Cursed Sin
by aciddwolf
Summary: A girl from an old village holds a hidden secret. What happens when all she can think about is Hidden Sand's Gaara? Especially when she learns about other's secrets. GaaraxOC One sided NaruxOCish.
1. Prologue

_'A young Gaara sat on a bench in Hidden Sand, his eyes sad, having recently hurt people after they ran from him when he tried to retrieve a ball. A hand reached out and gently tapped his shoulder, the sand must have thought he was about to get hurt, because it created a sheild, burning the hand that hand just touched him, and a small shocked cry of pain was heard, which was the main reason why Gaara turned around. A girl stood behing him, a stuffed dog and bear were held in her arm as she was staring at blood that was coming from part of a burn mark that ran from her left index finger tip to her wrist, covering part of her palm._

_Tears were in the girls eyes, but she didn't cry at all, as she stuttered, "I-I f-found a b-be-ar and th-thought it-it was yours..." she glanced up from her hand, to look at him, and took the bear from her arm with her right hand and placed it by Gaara. Her head was low and she cuddled the stuffed puppy that the bear had been next to, making sure not to get blood on it as though she cherished it._

_Gaara, still being little, smiled and nodded some, "thanks!" Then his attention directed to the cut that the sand had caused, as well as the near-bleeding burn marks on the girl's hand and frowned some, "I'm sorry..."_

_"D-don't be..." the girl smiled softly, her hair falling to cover her eyes, "it's onl-ly a scratch..." she assured him._

_Gaara nodded some, still having a sad look._

_"I've been hurt a few t-times before...it stings for a b-bit then goes away...so it should only hu-rt for a little while," the girl smiled faintly, still, as she tore a small amount of her shirt at the bottom of it, wrapping it around her cut like her mother did for her so many times, then hugged the stuffed puppy in her arms._

_Gaara paused for a few moments, "does it hurt much?"_

_Hesitating, the girl nodded some, "it hurts, but it-t hurt more a minute ago," suddenly, she jumped topics, seeming to calm down a little more "do you want'a play?" she smiled faintly, ignoring people who were staring at her like she had a death-wish._

_"Sure!" Gaara smiled some, and played most of the day with the girl. Once it became dark, the girl said she had to leave, and Gaara nodded. "Zaiaku, wanna play again tommorrow?" Gaara smiled some. _

_The girl, named Zaiaku, turned around and nodded, "okay! Meet me at my house, it's right...there!" She pointed out her house, "see you tommorrow!" and ran to the house, quickly entering._

_The next morning, Gaara walked to the house and knocked on the door, seeming a little happier now that he had somebody to play with._

_A woman answered the door, immediately slamming it shut upon seeing the person at the door, screaming "monster" as she did so.._

_Gaara's eyes widened some, "wh-?" he turned around, holding his chest, his heart hurt, and started walking away.He heard the door of the house slam shut and a girls voice, shouting his name, but ignored it._

_Zaiaku stood at the door of the house, a woman begging her to return back inside from the safety of the house, and stood beside the door, her eyes wide and sad that he wouldn't even turn to see her. "Gaara?" Zaiaku took a few steps towards him, people in town had backed away from Gaara now, having heard his name._

_He ignored her, only to continue walking until her found a quiet place alone, and sat down, crying while his grip tightened on his chest. Yesterday, it didn't hurt. Today, a new wound of the heart opened, re-opening the other one with it._

_"Gaara?" a girl's voice neared._

_"Go away..." Gaara said, sounding hurt._

_Zaiaku could hear it, and walked closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder._

_"I said go away!" He practically shouted at her, sand rose up, quickly hitting the same hand it had done this to the day before, ripping the medical tape that had recently been placed over it, and creating a small cut on the palm again._

_"I-I don't want to go away..." Zaiaku pulled her hand back, creating a fist to prevent blood from dripping everywhere, and bringing the fist close to her heart._

_"She called me a monster, everyone does...why do I have to be the monster?" Gaara still cried._

_Zaiaku frowned, as if feeling the deep pain within his heart. Slowly, she sat down and wrapped her arms around him, "stop crying... you aren't a monster, you're nice, isn't that what matters?" The girl spoke in a calm voice, "I'm moving...tommorrow... Mommy said that we're going to go see Father...so... I can't see you anymore..." She could feel the hand that Gaara, hadn't had gripping his heart, on her back, which stopped her from moving._

_"Do you like your father?" Gaara asked, which struck Zaiaku as a surprise._

_"I-I don't know...I don't remember him..." her voice trailed off._

_"Oh..." Gaara said before there wasn't any sound, letting go of her, "is it my fault?"_

_"No! Don't say that!" Zaiaku frowned, "you didn't do anything..." then she noticed Gaara's gaze had lowered to her bleeding hand, and noticed blood was dripping onto the ground, "...this?" she quieted, "I...don't blame you..." she murmered softly, then looked at him hearing a ripping sound, then pressure on her hand. Gaara had ripped part of his brown clothing and wrapped up her hand with it._

_She quickly hugged him and ran towards her home to prepare to leave._

_Zaiaku packed up her few belongings, then looked at her window, before walking out the door and following her mother out of the village, not taking one glance back. A year after this, she had switched through her first village, a place called An'ei-gakure, and Konohagakure, never having returned to Sunagakure. In Konoha, she killed her mother, learning of a curse that was placed upon her after this.' _

"Zaiaku? Zaiaku! There you are!" a boy shouted, I, was a bit taller than him, still his age though, looked down from a tree, looking down at the blonde haired boy, who was wearing orange.

"Hi, Naruto!" I waved, my clothing consisting of a black tee, black baggy pants, fishnet leading down my left arm to my elbow and fishnet leading up the right arm to my elbow, my left hand being wrapped up, along with standard ninja shoes and a black konoha forehead protector quite loose around my neck, revealing a brown cloth that was around my neck like a choker, tied in the back. My blonde hair was reaching mid-back, not tied back.

"What are you doing up there?" Naruto looked at her blue-green eyes as I jumped down.

"I'm not up anymore, and I was just thinking," I smiled some.

"About what?" Naruto got a curious look on his face.

"My past, duh," I stuck my tongue out.

"Your...past? What's important about it? I've never heard you mention it before..." Naruto commented.

"Ah..." I looked up for a moment, "hn...I was born in the village hidden in the shadows, An'ei, then my father left when I was really small, I didn't ever meet him, I think...then people yelled at me a lot and ran...then my mom moved to Hidden Sand, Suna, when I was five, and when I was six, my mom said we were going to see my father, we moved back to An'ei for about two years, then I came here, where my mom died, found out my father had been dead for about all of my life, and enrolled in the academy, became a genin, and am standing here right now..." I smiled some.

Naruto nodded some, "uh-hu...I think I understood some of that..."

"Keyword: think," I laughed softly, "why were you looking for me? Kakashi didn't mention anything today..."

"Sakura hadn't seen you all day, which I thought wasn't normal, so I decided to look for you!" Naruto said with pride in his voice.

"Awww...so sweet! My hero!" I laughed some, and he did as well.

We both walked back to Konohagakure. I walked to Sakura's house and saw Sakura annoying a boy in dark blue and shorts, and laughed softly. Poor Sasuke. I ran over to rescue him from Sakura. "Hey, Sakura, Sasuke!"

"Hi!" Sakura turned and smiled, while Sasuke got a releived look on his face.

"What's up?" I asked calmly.

"Just asking Sasuke if he'd like to eat with me!" Sakura smiled.

"I told her no five times and she's followed me around town asking..." Sasuke sighed some.

Suddenly I got an idea, Sakura had looked at Sasuke, and I pretended to look sick, motioning him to try to fake an ill look. I went back to how I normally appeared, "hey, Sasuke, you feeling okay? Maybe you should go home and lay down, it wouldn't be good to eat and see it again later...don't you agree, Sakura?" I looked at her.

Sakura noticed Sasuke had attained an ill look, and nodded some in dissapointment, "yeah, he probably should. Would you like me to stay with you, Sasuke?"

"No, he wouldn't want you to catch anything! I'll make sure he gets home, then how about I meet you at your house in a few minutes?" I interupted to prevent Sasuke from having a chance to fail at this fake-out.

Sakura nodded some, "get well soon, Sasuke. If you need anything, just call me!" She shouted, walking back to her house.

Sasuke regained his normal appearance, as I walked alongside him, in case Sakura were to turn around, "thanks," he muttered.

"Any time. Sakura is nice, but clingy, so just pretend you need to leave if you get tired of her. It works well, don't you agree?" I smiled.

"Yeah..." Sasuke smirked some, stopping in front of his home, "see you," he smiled faintly, walking inside and closing the door as I turned around.

"Later," I smirked some, taking off across the village towards Sakura's house, then paused, relizing it was the 28th of March. I skidded to a stop and took off towards home. I was so stupid! I forgot!


	2. Siblings of the Sand

I was so stupid! It was Sakura's birthday today! How could I forget? I needed to get her present ready, luckily I had already bought it. On the downside, my house was on the opposite side of Konoha, near the outskirts. Geeze. Just my luck. Could've gotten there from Sasuke's faster.

I skidded to a stop by my house, falling backwards when I saw an eye made of sand sitting on my windowcil. "Gah! What the hell? Who decided to put something like this here? I don't want it!" I shouted, "damn pranksters...I bet it was Naruto...I'm so going to get him back for this..." I muttered, suddenly, a dark sheild lifted beside me, as two sand shuriken hit it. "Okay...maybe it wasn't Naruto!" I muttered, knowing Naruto was incapable of doing this. It was special to Sunagakure. I remembered seeing it when I was little. But who threw it? I didn't see anyone. Then I heard something move, my eyes darted to a place in the trees, raising my hand, I heard something grumble, then a rush of sand passed over my feet. "Oh...damn it!" I jumped to a small area with no sand. As a red haired boy appeared near the house, I darted at him, pinning him to the ground for a few seconds before I was thrown off. What shocked me was that he never moved, the sand had hit me! "Wh-what?" I slowly began trying to figure what was happening. Nobody could do this in Konoha that I knew! I stood up, only to hear a cold voice say, "Sabaku Kyu..."

"Wh-at?" I was stunned to see sand surrounding me, "damn it, hell, you attacked me first! What did I do?" I could feel it becoming difficult to breath after a few moments, feeling a sudden warmth, I knew I was fine. I felt it becoming easier to breath. Still curious on how this boy, with cold, hateful, evil eyes could control the sand, but kept consentration on breathing. Doubted I would die this easily. No, somebody would be terribly upset if I died. Unless they like being stuck in a tree. Then I heard two other voices, a female's and a male's.

"Did you find a Konoha member...G-Gaara?" The female asked.

"I think he did, Temari...or there wouldn't be a pile of sand there, would there?" The male commented.

"Ga-Gaara...you didn't kill them, did you...? I-it's fine with me, but Kazekage might not like it..." the girl, who was supposedly named Temari, said.

"She shouldn't be. Don't be surprised if the pitiful excuse of a shinobi is unconcious..." The boy, Gaara, was it? Said.

Gaara...why did that name sound so familiar? Damn it...Gaara...Gaara...Gaara... shoot...on the tip of my tongue and I still don't remember!

The sand fell from the deathtrap, and I did as well. Faking out Sakura worked well at this moment. He expected me to be short of breath, so I better be unless I like small, cramped, sandy places.

"She's fine," Gaara said, coldly.

'Trying to fucking kill me? Who the hell does he think he is?' I thought, as I fake gasped for air, sitting on the ground, breathing deeply for a few moments, not leaving that spot.

The boy, Gaara, had a gourd on his back, which the sand suddenly receeded into. He stared coldly at me, "get up, now," he commanded.

I slowly nodded and stood up, stumbling a little, falling back down before slowly rising again. My friend from An'ei had once done that when she had just regained her breath. If she was here, I wouldn't be as distant as I am to people who aren't on my team.

"You should know there are two biju in your village, right?" the boy, with paint on his face who was wearing all black, asked.

I nodded some, "I know of one in this village...but I do not know who has it," the first part was partially the truth. I do know one of the village, then it would be stupid for me not to know the other. And I did know who both had them. Like I would tell shinobi of Sunagakure!

"I don't beleive you..." Gaara's cold eyes were peircing mine.

"Well you better," I matched the cold sound in his voice, which made Temari and the other boy back away a little. This told me that I probably didn't do anything smart them.

Gaara's eyes flickered with unamusement, "I should kill you..." he muttered.

Temari and the boy looked surprised at the mere threat. "But...G-Gaara...she knows!" The boy shouted in a nervous tone.

"She's not going to leave us, she's coming along, Kankuro. This may be a good birthday present for Kazekage. A girl who won't tell the truth even when she stares death in the face. He'll get her to tell her secrets about Konoha," Gaara turned and began walking.

"Y-yes, G-Gaara..." the boy, I assumed was named Kankuro, motioned for me to walk, but I stood still, stubborn as a mule.

Temari walked up to me, "I would follow, Gaara won't be happy if you don't. He will kill you," she warned.

"Why the hell should I?" I snapped at her, crossing my arms.

Temari backed away as sand surrounded my feet, rising a little every second, "are you coming, or are we taking you there dead?" Gaara coldly asked.

I glared at him, "is that a threat? I'd be surprised if you could kill me. If I took chances though, my previous village and this one may be in danger...as well as my clan secret..." I mumbled the last part under my breath, by now the sand was passed my waist, "fine," I muttered, "I'll go. Just get rid of the sand. I hate memories," I glared at Gaara.

He smirked some, winning the battle. Not yet the war though. He walked away, followed by me, who was in front of Kankuro and Temari.

"Who are you, anyways?" Temari asked me.

"Zaiaku. Sin." I spoke in a faintly cold tone, giving her the definition of my name with it, though she probably knew anyways. If she didn't, she did now, and I hoped that would keep her from thinking that I was a 'pitiful' push over.

"I'm Temari, this is Kankuro, and our little brother, Gaara is ahead of you. If I were you, I wouldn't sass off to him. He will kill you," the blond girl warned.

"Heh...like I fear death. The worst it can do is kill me," I muttered.

"In a slow, painful way. Or to where your blood splatters everywhere," Kankuro added.

"Yeah, yeah. Like being a shinobi isn't risking that happening anyways," I muttered.

Temari looked at Gaara, "G-Gaara, would you like it if I went ahead...a-and informed Kazekage about a guest arriving?"

Gaara nodded, "there is a chance she might not make it there alive. Tell him so he'll be prepared."

Temari nodded, then looked at Kankuro, who was staring at her wide eyed, "would...y-you mind in Kankuro came along?"

Gaara got an irritated look on his face, "take him. He'll slow us down anyways. Try to get there first."

I stared at Temari, wondering why she would leave me alone with Gaara. Then I understood after a moment. She did that because she wanted to get away from Gaara, and hated to leave her brother alone with him. Yeah, thanks a lot, Temari. Leave me alone with him so he can kill me as soon as he gets mad!

Temari mouthed 'good luck' to me as she and Kankuro took off as fast as they could to make it there before Gaara, and get away from him.

'Traitor,' was my only thought though. How could she leave me with somebody who would like to kill me? I couldn't run back, we were too far outside of Konoha for me to reconise my location. So, I stopped. Dead in my tracks. I'd get killed if I followed him anyways, it's just stalling the pain.

"Come on," Gaara stopped, not even looking back.

"No, kill me, you will anyways," I muttered.

"There are no promises you will die on the way there, then again I make no promises to let you live," Gaara spoke coldly.

"Kill me," I snapped.

"No. I'll leave you here to starve," Gaara muttered, walking on.

It was certain, I didn't know him. I've never met a person as cruel as this. Slowly, I followed him, my eyes on the ground.


	3. Is He Truly A Monster? Nevermind, Yes

Gaara had won, yet again. This was making me mad. There better be more than three rounds, or I lost the war! After what seemed like hours, I looked up at the sky, and was shocked. There were stars. It was already night? I didn't notice! Silently, I slipped on a sweat-jacket which was black, that had been tied around my waist. Gaara stopped, hearing me yawn.

He turned and stared at me, "you're tired?"

"Yes, I haven't slept in several days, why wouldn't I be?" I muttered coldly.

"Pitiful shinobi..." Gaara muttered, and started a fire out of branches and anything found of the ground flamable. Pretty much anything except entire trees.

I was surprised that he made a fire, rather than try to kill me for being tired and talking to him in that tone. I silently sat across from him by the fire, watching the flames dance, before looking up at him. He seemed focused on the flames. I didn't know how somebody could stare at them for so long, their eyes would surely beging to burn from the heat. My eyes examined the kanji word 'love' on his forehead. I hadn't had a chance to see his face or front much at all since I had been behind him the entire time we walked. I quietly scootched over until I was sitting beside him, looking at his kanji tattoo. It didn't suit him. Not at all. He hated, not loved.

Gaara seemed to ignore me, still watching the flames as though I wasn't there.

"Gaara?" I murmered softly, this reminded me so much of something, but I still couldn't remember anybody like him. Especially since he ignored me right then as well. Silently, I lifted my left hand, which was wrapped at the knuckle to my wrist, meaning I was able to touch him and feel his skin, if I couldn't have, I would have used my right hand. Still, he ignored me. I softly placed my fingertips on the tattoo, silently staring at it. He pulled back slightly, but then shut his eyes, relaxing a little. I thought about his reaction for a moment. Was he really that heartless? I brushed my fingers against the kanji. He was calm. Suddenly, I pulled my hand back a little, wincing slightly as a sheild of sand rose quickly, then dropped. This was too familiar.

I looked at Gaara, who's eyes were now on my palm, almost glaring at it. The tape fell loosely down my arm, where it had been cut by the burn of the quickness of the sand. I quietly pulled my hand back, but was surprised by a hand grabbing my wrist and lifting my hand up, palm facing up, while Gaara examined my hand. Scars. Two of them. One was faint, it ran across my palm, while the other was from my index finger and down, faint scar traces visible among my palm.

"Is...something wrong?" I murmered, staring at my hand.

"Where did you get those?" He muttered, referring to the scars, as he shoved away my hand, then threatened me again, "touch me and I might kill you..."

I looked at my palm for a moment, before taking the remains of the medical tape and re-wrapping the scars, as well as a moon with an eye tattoo on the back of my hand. An'ei's village symbol. Thinking for a moment, I remembered why his name was so familiar. Gaara. The one who made these scars. The one who scarred my heart as well. "Uh...well..." I murmered softly, "I burnt my hand as a child..."

"Stupid Shinobi," Gaara muttered, then looked at the flames.

I looked down, bringing my knees up to my chin, resting my chin on them. I shut my eyes, half asleep. The only sound was of Gaara and my breathing. I felt something touch me, but didn't move, deciding if it were important, I would make the darkness protect me. Much like what Gaara kept doing to me with the sand! I felt a hand softly touch my neck, then brush hair out of my face. I didn't want to annoy Gaara, so I didn't do what he did to me. I pretended I was resting and didn't know he had touched me.

In the morning, I opened my eyes, silently rising. I didn't get any sleep during the night. This would probably be a week or two since the last time I actually slept. I was surprised to look over and see Gaara watching me, his eyes still unkind.

"Gaara, please, stop glaring at me..." I murmered softly, not in the mood to be upset and cold this early.

He didn't respond. Only stood up and started walking.

I sighed softly, "I liked the Gaara by the fire better than you," I muttered, loud enough for him to hear. I shut my eyes, walking close behind him.

He stopped at this comment and spun around, staring at me. "There isn't a difference. If you were--"

"A true shinobi, I would know that," I finished his sentence, receiving a pretty little glare, "but oh, there is a difference. Last night you were calm, relaxed, and.. not nearly as cruel during the day," I added.

Gaara's hand curled into a fist, so I tightly shut my eyes, expecting him to hit me from anger. But after a moment, no strike came, Gaara was walking again, and I followed quickly behind him.

"Gaara...?" I murmered softly, like last night.

To my surprise, he didn't actually ignore me, "hm?"

"Why didn't you choose a different person to bring?" I waited for his answer impatiently.

"Random choice. The house furthest away from everyone is usually the easiest to get to without notice," he muttered, coldly.

"How do you know if I was lying or telling the truth?"

"I don't have to answer your questions piti--" I cut him off yet again.

"Pitiful Shinobi. Yes, I know. You say that too many times. Stop it before I kill you," I snapped.

Sand rose around my ankles, "I'll kill you," Gaara muttered.

I yawned softly, "you've said that already, you repeat yourself way too much," I seemed to ignore the sand that was rising, "you know, this isn't killing me, it's just bothering me."

Gaara glared at me, then muttered "Sabaku Kyu..." Sand wrapping around me, another attempt to suffocate me..

I noticed his hand closing slowly. He wasn't planning on suffocating me. He was planning on crushing me! I coughed softly, tasting blood once I did this. Really nice. If I would have just kept my mouth shut, this wouldn't have happened, now, would it have? Soon, I felt the familiar warm feeling as I did the other day, and I wasn't being crushed. Even if Gaara's hand was still closing. Gaara's hand balled into a fist and the sand flew away in a small explosive reaction. I landed softly, yet weakly, on my feet, having not been crushed. This seemed to annoy Gaara.

"You're still alive," he muttered, turning around.

"Oh, yeah, did you really expect me to get crushed?" I muttered, having the same tone of voice as him. Silently, I swallowed a small amount of blood that I had in my mouth, since blood hadn't come out of my mouth, I didn't need him to know that he actually did hurt me.

"Actually, I did," Gaara muttered truthfully.

"I hate you," I growled at him.

"You didn't seem to last night," Gaara smirked some, "I don't really care if you hate me."

"You weren't trying to kill me last night. And you better not care, because I will make your life a living hell," I glared.

"My life already is. You can't do something that is already done." Gaara said coldly, walking again.

"Can't stand you...when will we be there?" I asked bitterly.

"Shut up," was his only reply.

"That doesn't answ--" I was cut off.

"Shut up," his tone became colder.

I sighed some, "you don't own me. You can't tell me what to do, so you shut up."

Gaara didn't respond, but I could tell I was getting on his nerves.

I looked forwards, noticing faint objects that seemed to become more clear every step.


	4. Disrespectful Meeting With The Kazekage

As we walked further, I saw the Village Hidden in the Sand near. I sighed softly. This probably meant I wasn't going to return to Konohagakure for a long time. Then it hit me. I may not be able to find Konoha, but I could probably find An'ei. Then again, being so close to Sunagakure would mean shinobi could probably easily find me. Just my luck.

I followed Gaara down the familiar streets of Suna, but slowed at a house that appeared abandoned. The reason I slowed wasn't because of that though, it was my old house. "Gaara?" I stopped.

"What?" He was seriously getting mad at me for talking.

"Who lives here?" I pointed towards the house.

"Nobody. Nobody has for six years," Gaara said coldly, then continued walking.

"Oh..." I murmered. My mother and I were the last people to live there.

People, seeing Gaara, backed away from any type of contact with him.

"Why are people hiding from you? Or is it me?" I blinked, playing with a black leather belt that was slanted on my side, that used to be covered by my jacket.

"It's me. And none of your business," Gaara muttered.

"Hn..." I shrugged a little. At least, for once, it wasn't me that people were backing away from in one of my old villages. This sort of reminded me of how people had used to treat me in An'ei. They'd just slowly creep away.

Gaara continued walking, unfazed.

I silently followed him, then saw Temari, who was talking to Kankuro. They kept their distances too, but seemed surprised I wasn't dead.

Gaara and I walked to a building, he silently entered, me still following.

"So, you brought the guest alive?" a male asked.

"Yes, Kazekage," Gaara muttered, leaving almost instantly.

"So, you're from Konoha? You don't look like it," the Kazekage said calmly.

"So you're the Kazekage? You don't look like it," I smirked some, testing my luck.

"Mock me, and you will die. Tell me, you know the two biju of Konoha?" Kazekage sounded a little upset.

"I'm so scared," I spoke with sarcasm, "maybe I do, maybe I don't. Why do you need to know?"

"Because your life depends on it, and you should be scared," he smirked.

"Yes and no, yes, I know. No, I'm not telling you anything about them, and trust me, people can torture me and I'll never say," I smirked. I wasn't going to die as easily as he thought. Yeah, like I'm a normal shinobi.

"You'll die if you don't speak," Kazekage warned.

"Oh, wow, I'm so scared," I muttered, showing no respect.

"You should be. I'll give you a few nights to think about it, try to escape and my children will hunt you down and kill you," Kazekage stared at me.

"Oh thank you, thank you for sparing me, you're so nice!" I used a high tone of sarcasm, "I hate you as much as Gaara," I turned my voice to a bitter seriousness, and turned around, exiting.

A boy stood outside of the building, wearing a black tee and brown baggy pants, his hair was spiked and brown, "you shouldn't test your luck with Kazekage or shinobi of the sand," he warned.

"Do I know you?" I shot a glare towards him.

"Yes. Kankuro ring any bells?" The boy looked at me.

I stared at him for a minute, "does 'traitor' ring any bells? You left me alone with Gaara! He tried to kill me!" I snapped.

"He does that a lot," Kankuro sighed some, "come on, I'll take you to our house, you'll be staying there for a while."

"'A while' my ass, I'm going to be killed in a few nights. Or so the Kazekage says," I muttered.

"You've spent too much time with Gaara, I'm not being mean to you, you don't need to be to me," Kankuro looked at me.

"Yes, yes, actually, I do! You forced me to leave my home! I don't like you for that!" I snapped.

"Blame Gaara," Kankuro started walking, turning to look at me, "come on."

"I already do! I blame the three of you, especially Gaara! I HATE Gaara! He tries to kill me!" I growled. following him.

"Tries. He hasn't yet," Kankuro shook his head, "consider yourself lucky he hasn't attempted to actually succeed in killing you."

"He DID! After you and Temari left me alone with him, he got mad and tried to crush my bones! Tell me that's not trying to succeed in killing me!" I muttered.

"Then why aren't you dead?" Kankuro sighed.

"Because I got loose thanks to myself, not him! He made a fist and the sand went flying after trying to crush me!" I snapped.

"I don't beleive that. You wouldn't be here if he had," Kankuro sighed.

"Fine, I don't care if you beleive me! I don't care if anyone beleives me! I know the truth and I don't care if you don't beleive me because of that!" I snapped, shoving my hands into my pockets.

"If Gaara wasn't a killer when he does that, I'd beleive you," Kankuro shook his head, stopping at a house and opening a door, Temari glancing up at me and Kankuro. "She didn't say anything, so she's staying here for a few nights," Kankuro told her.

I walked inside, looking at Temari, "look, it's the other traitor who left me with somebody who tried to kill me!" I snapped, "why the hell did you leave me alone with him? Then you take Kankuro with you! That isn't right!"

Temari looked at me, and frowned some, then looked at Kankuro, "I'm getting dinner ready, you have to show her the guest room."

"Better not be cooked plants again," Kankuro muttered, then walked up a staircase, motioning for me to follow.

I followed him, as he pointed at a door, "this is my room, Temari's is over there," he pointed towards a room two doors down, "the door between ours is Yashamaru's, our dead uncle's, room. For your sake, I wouldn't enter it. We don't need Gaara being upset."

"Eyeball," I muttered, staring at a table that an eyeball made of sand was on. It looked like it was watching me. I didn't like that.

"Gaara's watching us. Probably so he'll know what we're doing," Kankuro sighed, pointing towards a door, "that is Gaara's room. Keep out of it if you know what's best for you."

"I don't know what's best for me," I smirked some, "but why would I want to go into Gaara's room?"

"Keep that thought. You don't want to go into Gaara's room. Ever," Kankuro warned, then pointed to a door a short distance away from Gaara's room, "and that is your room. It's across from Temari's. If you need anything ask her. If she's not here, ask me. Try to refrain from asking Gaara anything unless it's a death wish."

"Alright. Ask Gaara for death," I noted aloud.

Kankuro walked to my room and opened the door. It was a white room with a sand colored floor. I looked around the place for a moment and nodded some, "alright. Thanks for the short tour of the house," I muttered.

"Yeah, whatever. Don't leave the house. Kazekage would dissaprove of it, do whatever you'd like to this room. We never have company" Kankuro said and left me at my room.

"Alright. Maybe I could get rid of the white walls..." I muttered, closing the door. As soon as I did, markings appeared on my left arm, the only actual word was kanji for 'shadow' that was completely black on my arm. The walls were surrounded in darkness, then the shadows vanished and the room was black. After a few moments, the tattoo on my arm faded to blend with my skin.


	5. Dinner With The Sand Siblings

I looked around my room, glancing at a window. Silently, I walked over to it. It was a sliding glass door. Outside of it was a small balcony. I didn't even attempt to open it. As soon as I looked over the door, I noticed it was locked. I'd use it to my advantage later.

Silently, I slipped out of my room, walking down the steps and into a small kitchen, where Temari was. Kankuro must have left.

Temari looked over at me, "hey, I'm surprised you made it to Suna alive!" She smiled faintly, messing with some sort of food.

"No thanks goes to you. Actually, if I were weaker, he would have killed me! He tried to! He was crushing me!" I snapped.

"Why are you alive? ...Hey, could you pass me that plant over there?" She motioned towards a cut up plant that was sitting on a counter by me.

"Because. If I told a member of Suna, I'd be turning on myself," I muttered, bringing the plant to her, "you know, Kankuro doesn't want to eat this, right?"

"You don't trust me? Not really a surprise I guess, I wouldn't say Konoha and Suna are very close. Kankuro can eat the sand if he doesn't like it," Temari took the plant.

I stared at her for a moment, then shrugged a little. "I'll be in my room," I muttered, slipping up the stairs and shutting the door behind me. The shadows surrounded me, my clothing changed to a sand colored brown long sleeved shirt and tan pants. 'If I leave the village, they'll notice. So I'll just change my clothing and appearance a bit so if I run into Kankuro, I won't be reconised...' I thought, a black hair tie appearing in my hand, "at least I can get my things from home.." I muttered, pulling my hair back into a ponytail. My pale skin had turned a tanner color, and a black streak appeared down my forehead turning and crossing under my right eye. My green eyes turned yellow and my hair lightened to an extremely light blonde. Silently, a black line surrounded the door frame of the glass door, I heard a faint click and opened it. Quickly, I jumped off the balcony, landing swiftly on my feet. Then I relised there was a problem. I still had my Konoha forehead protector. If I took it off, nobody would reconise me and ask which village I came from. I took off the protector and pushed it into my pocket, taking a protector from my ankle, which had a moon with an eye, and tied it around my stomach, a little above where my belt was once.

I darted down a dark alley, and stopped when I reached the streets. I walked down the street, people didn't seem to notice me, even when they walked past me.

"Hey, who are you? And why is a stranger in our village?" A familiar voice asked.

I turned around, my eyes stared into none other than Kankuro's. "I am Shoushi, from An'ei..." I smiled faintly, shoushi meant midnight, I had used it a lot when wandering around An'ei at night-time.

"Kankuro, and what are you doing here?" Kankuro stared at me, probably trying to figure out why he felt like we had met before.

"Nice to meet you. I'm sorry, but the reason for me being here is strictly kept between me and members of An'ei. If I could, I would tell you my reasons, but I can't," I said in a soft tone, "now if you'll excuse me, I must leave now," I murmered, quietly turning and walking away.

Kankuro stared for a moment, then shrugged off the odd feeling before walking away.

I snickered to myself, walking to a stand, where I bought some meat. I doubted Temari had any by the looks of their kitchen. Yet, I figured that Kankuro would much rather that than the concoction that Temari had. I silently returned to my room. I changed my clothes back and used the shadows to place the food in the fridge without notice, then switched forehead protectors and took the hair tie out of my dark blonde hair as my eyes returned to their original color. I waited for a few moments before leaving my room. The marks on my arm had returned when I switched back appearances, so I had to wait for them to dissapear again.

As soon as they did, I slipped out of my bedroom, noticing the sand eye and stared at it, then waved playfully at it, before walking down the stairs. I had a strong disliking for that eye made of sand. Especially since that was included in my first sight of Gaara. I looked at Temari, who was still cooking, "need any help?" I muttered.

"I think I've got it handled," she glanced over at me, "unless you want to find something for a side thing in case this doesn't turn out."

"Alright," I nodded some, opening the fridge. Many, many vegatables. Oh dear. The frigde was practically full of them! Silently, I pulled out the meat and looked at Temari, "why not this?"

"I didn't put that in there. Kankuro must have...he's hinting at something," Temari shook her head and sighed some, "sure. If you're making something for Kankuro, he always complains about us never having hamburgers, if you want to give it a shot."

"Alright," I smiled some, washing my hands and quickly making hamburgers. I cooked a lot since I lived alone, though hamburgers wasn't usually upon the list of 'Most Likely Things To Cook' I did sometimes. After it was finished, I took out hamburger buns, which were oddly found in the back of the fridge, then looked at Temari, "are these still okay to eat?"

"They should be, I bought them earlier this week," she looked over at me.

"Why? You don't have meat other than that in the house," I blinked several times.

"Because I can put vegatables on them for a change so that Kankuro might eat them," Temari shrugged, "it rarely works."

"Mind if I use them?" I had already set them on the counter.

"Go ahead. Might as well before they sit in the fridge until we have to throw them out," She shrugged.

"Alright," I murmered.

After a while, Temari and I had finished the food. We walked to the table, setting down the food.

Kankuro walked into the house, like a cat, upon smelling the food when he was outside. He looked over at the table and noticed hamburgers, staring at them as if he were a little kid in a candy store without money.

"Uh...Kankuro... you're drooling," I looked at him.

Kankuro whiped his mouth, causing Temari to laugh. He didn't really drool.

I laughed softly, "you do know you can eat them, right? Not like their poisoned."

"If Temari made them, there might be," Kankuro warned, "she might have disguised plants as meat!" He looked at me. Temari looked at him as if she was considering hitting him.

I laughed softly, "I made them. It's not poisoned, not full of plants either."

He looked at me eerily, then sat down.

Both Temari and Kankuro froze as they heard a door shut upstairs. I silently glanced up at the stairs as a footstep was heard upon them. Gaara walked down the stairs without speaking, examining the food on the table.

"G-Gaara, is something wrong?" Temari stuttered.

"Since when do you cook meat?" Gaara shot a questioning glare at Temari.

"I-I--" Temari was cut off. She took too long to speak with the stuttering.

"I did. Temari didn't," I muttered.

Gaara glared at me, "did I ask you?"

"Does it matter?" I glared back at him.

Gaara didn't answer, he only sat down and silently took one of the hamburgers.

Temari watched Gaara, wide eyed, "G-Gaara...?"

He ignored her, glaring down at the defenseless meat.

Kankuro slowly sat down and took one of the hamburgers.

I sat down, but reached for nothing. Another thing about me, I rarely ate.

Temari sat down, taking some of her plant concoction and looked at Gaara.

There was an odd silence. Nothing like the times I ate with Naruto. Usually we both at ramen at the ramen stand while he chatted away, only stopping when he took a bite of food or I interrupted him.

Kankuro slowly took a bite of the hamburger, an uncertain look in his eyes. He smiled some at me, as if grateful, then continued to eat.

I smiled faintly at him, then looked at Gaara, ending the silence, "you know, if you eat it it will go away so you don't have to glare at it anymore. Or you could take a picture, then eat the hamburger so you'll always be able to glare at it. Whatever you do, just eat the thing."

Gaara shot a glare at me.

"Well, fine! Then just glare at the thing, not like it's alive for you to scare it!" I snapped.

Temari looked at me, then took a bite of her food.

"You talk too much," Gaara muttered.

"Well, you don't have to hear me talk then. You could ignore me," I muttered, standing up and walking to my room.


	6. Respect Kazekage? Never

After dinner, I heard a knock on my bedroom door. Silently, I walked over to the door, and opened it, to see a familiar face.

"Hey," Kankuro smiled faintly.

"Hi," I murmered.

"Can I come in, or are you doing something?" Kankuro tried to look past me, noticing the odd darkness of my room.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever," I shrugged some.

Kankuro walked into the room, staring at the walls for a minute, "you painted your room black...?"

"Yep, don't mind, do you?" I shut the door silently and leaned against it, turning on a light. I had been sitting in the dark.

"No, not at all. But...how did you do it so fast? And the paint looks dry. There isn't any smell of paint either..." Kankuro looked around.

"My secret. Are you here only to bother me about my room?" I watched him.

"No. I was going to thank you for the food, and ask how you got meat. You never left, did you?" He eyed me suspiciously, then looked at the sliding glass door, walking over and making sure it was locked. It was. That thing was sealed tightly and if I wouldn't have used my powers earlier, I never would have been able to open it. When it locked, it sealed as tight as it was before.

"No, it was in the fridge. I never left this house since I came here," I lied, "plus, you weren't here unless you can dissapear, which I doubt, wouldn't you have seen me?"

"How did you know I wasn't in my room?" He looked at me.

"Your bedroom door was wide open, how can I not notice you not in it?" I sighed some.

He laughed slightly out of embarassment, then looked at me, "are you alright?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I gave him a questioning look.

"You and Gaara had a fight earlier and you seemed upset," Kankuro sat down in a chair by the door.

"Ehh...if I wasn't okay, it wouldn't just be Gaara. It would be the whole 'shinobi of suna kidnapped me' thing. Beleive me, that little fight downstairs is the last thing that is bothering me," I answered truthfully.

"Once again, that wasn't my fault," Kankuro smiled some.

"Uh-hu. I believe you, 'but, Gaara, she knows!' ring any bells there?" I glared at him for a moment.

Kankuro sighed, not saying anything.

I stared at him silently, my eyes never leaving him.

"I should go," Kankuro muttered after a few moments.

I moved away from the door and opened it, I muttered, "I'm fine," as he walked out the door. I shut the door and turned off the light. Silently, I walked to my bed and layed down on it.

I lay silently in bed for hours, before seeing the sun rise. All night, I was awake, thinking of Konoha. Did people notice me gone? Surely Sakura did. Maybe Sasuke might have if Sakura hung on him. Naruto should, since I was supposed to meet him for ramen later that night. Surely that boy would not forget something like that. Eating ramen was probably as important as breathing to him. And he was a chatterbox when I was there. And Kakashi...ehh... he might be too busy reading dirty books to notice. Then again, who would be so stupid not to notice one of their students went missing? And today. Today, was I supposed to live through Gaara's insults?

Then I heard a knock on the door, and the familiar voice from last night. I sat up, silently, and opened the door to see Kankuro, who was staring at me, unpleasantly.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I stared at him, "was it last night?"

"Kazekage wants to see you. He changed his mind to seeing you today. Be ready and meet me downstairs," Kankuro muttered and walked away.

I shut the door, my heart sank. Damn it! Why did I have to be here? Why me? Silently, my arm got the same markings as before, and a brush appeared. I brushed my hair, and the brush dissapeared as shadows swirled around me, my clothing changed to something almost identical to the black clothes I had on the night before, except the knees on the pantlegs were both torn enough for fishnet to be seen.

I walked out of my room and down the steps. Sure enough, Kankuro was standing there.

"Good luck," Temari looked at me as she peered down from the railing.

I nodded some and followed Kankuro out the door. As we walked down the street, I turned back to see Gaara watching us from his bedroom window, his arms crossing in chest.

Soon we reached the doors of the first building I entered when Gaara had brought me here. Kankuro looked at me, opening the door, and muttered, "if I were you, I'd say everything you know."

"But you aren't me," I smiled playfully and walked in, followed by Kankuro, who stood in the back of Kazekage's room.

"So, are you going to tell me about the biju of your village?" The Kazekage looked at me.

"There are no biju currently residing in my village that I'm aware of," I spoke truthfully. No, my village was An'ei. Not Konoha. And An'ei was really meant to be my village, my father was the lord there, and if I wanted I could step in. Being too young when he died, an elder took over and told me that the village was mine, and he would merely take care of it until I wanted the position. That was why my father had given that specific elder privlages of becoming lord there. He was a close and true friend of my father.

"The Kyuubi is in your village, you're lying to me. Tell me about Kyuubi and the other biju!" The Kazekage's voice rose.

Kankuro had a worried look.

"Kyuubi doesn't live in An'ei. Your talking about Konoha," I smiled playfully, "my original village is An'ei, meaning it is my village, not Konoha, sir."

"You knew what I meant!" Kazekage was getting mad.

"But what if I didn't? Consider that?" I muttered.

Kazekage was silent, probably trying to calm down. "Tell me what you know about the biju in Konoha," Kazekage said after a few moments.

"Hn...no. There's nothing in it for me. I give you information, and you'll kill me anyways," I smirked some.

"I'll give you extra time to consider telling me, if you tell me something now," Kazekage was trying to reason with me. Poorly.

"Alright, you want to know? The biju is stronger than the one that is said to reside here, and weaker than Kyuubi," I smirked. I only gave him information that wasn't helpful. Of course the biju was stronger than the one tail that was residing here, and weaker than a nine tail! More tails, more power!

"Tell more," Kazekage smirked some, thinking he was getting through to me.

"And it's better looking than you," I smirked.

"Enough! Tell me about the biju!" Kazekage's voice rose again.

Kankuro jumped some.

"Fine, fine. You know what's wrong with Suna shinobi? Too strict. Can't take a joke. Anyways, yeah, the biju is stronger than a nibi and weaker than a shichibi, you know, stronger than twin tail, weaker than seven tail, and it's probably capable of eating you," I muttered.

"Is that all you're saying?" Kazekage looked at me.

"Yep, I'm not telling you anything else," I stood with my arms crossed.

"I'll give you time to consider telling everything else, I think you know more," Kazekage stared at me, "try to leave and shinobi will be sent after you."

"That's nice," I muttered as Kankuro opened the door and let me leave.

"You shouldn't mouth off to him, he'll kill you," Kankuro warned as we left the building.

"That's nice," I muttered, "I hold very little respect for the kazekage, sorry, but I won't show any more respect than if he were a normal person," I put one of my hands in my pockets.

"He's my father. I respect him as both," Kankuro muttered, now staring at me, "where did you get new clothes?"

"My secret. And I figured he was your father," I muttered, 'they all smell similar,' was my thought.

"How did you know?" Kankuro continued walking.

"My secret as well," I smirked some.


	7. He Hates Me Why Does It Bother Me?

"Okay..." Kankuro muttered as we reached the house, I had been annoying Kazekage so long that it was already beginning to get dark. "If you need to go someplace, ask me or Temari and we'll take you," Kankuro muttered.

"Okay," I opened the door and walked in.

After a while, I heard Gaara's bedroom door open and shut. It was pretty easy to tell it was Gaara, the sound was loud enough that it had to be nearby, and Temari was dowstairs cooking, again. If it would have been Kankuro the door shutting wouldn't have been as loud. If he ever shut it other than at night to sleep.

A few minutes passed, I slipped downstairs, hearing Kankuro whine about Temari making vegatable soup for dinner tonight. I bit my lower lip to prevent laughing at his attempts to get her to change her mind. Silently, I opened the door and slipped out of the house. I, then, shut the door and noticed a fire not far from the village. I silently slipped towards the fire, trying to figure out who would be sitting there. I stopped almost frozen, seeing who was there.

Gaara. He was staring at the fire. What was he doing here? Why him? Did he have to be here?

I sighed some, walking towards him. A couple days left, might as well try to make friends with him. At least that would take one regret away. Not trying to understand him or why he was cruel.

"Gaara?" I murmered, walking towards him.

He ignored me.

"Would you listen?" I stood beside him.

Still, he ignored me.

"This is bothering me," I muttered, sitting down, "hey! Wake up!"

"Be quiet," Gaara muttered, his eyes never leaving the fire.

"Don't ignore me," I muttered.

"I can hear you," he said coldly.

"What's wrong with you? You're so moody and mean!" I glared at him.

He didn't answer my question, merely saying, "you're annoying."

"I am annoying?" I matched his cold tone, yet again, "you're the one with problems here!"

"I hate you," Gaara muttered, "go back to bothering Kankuro."

My heart sank hearing he hated me, "you...hate me?"

"It's easy to, you bother me," he never looked away from the fire.

"That isn't hate!" I snapped coldly at him, "hate is when you can't stand being even close to the person! Hate is--"

"I know what hate is, I have been hated before," Gaara cut me off.

"I have too!" I snapped.

"It doesn't look like it, until now," Gaara said coldly.

"Keyword: look. You have problems, Gaara! I don't care what you think, but I bet I've went through the same troubles!" My tone rose.

"No. You haven't. I was never loved. I was hated and feared by everyone. You think you have it bad, but you don't know me. You only met me earlier this week," Gaara shut his eyes.

"Never loved? Hated by everyone. Don't make me laugh. That's a lie!" I snapped, "you don't know me. Apparantly you don't care about remembering things."

"I remember my uncle trying to kill me. I remember him saying I wasn't loved. I hate you. I don't like anyone," Gaara muttered.

"You idiot," I snapped.

Gaara looked shocked as suddenly I slapped him. The sand didn't protect him. He didn't understand. Then he noticed a black mark holding sand down that had tried to sheild him. The blackness dissapeared and the sand fell.

"You heartless idiot. You were loved once," I muttered.

"Never," Gaara muttered, obviously furious with the fact that his face now hurt.

I took off the medical tape that hid the scars on my hand, placing it to were he could see the scars, "you did this to me. I never got a scar from burning my hand on fire, it was your sand," my voice was cold yet calm.

"I don't beleive that," Gaara examined my hand for a few moments then looked at the fire.

"Then I guess I hate you too, you can't remember one person who actually cared if you were upset. That person was me. If you ever remember and soften up, find me. Unless your father kills me before you get the chance to understand what I've said today," the cold tone of my voice had dissapeared and I sounded calm. Silently, I removed the brown choker from my neck and threw it down beside him, "don't forget who didn't fear you," I muttered, walking away.

Then I heard something and sand started wrapping around my feet. I was a threat. I hit him. He was going to try to kill me. "leave me alone, Gaara, I'm not in the mood to play. This is why my mother made us move," I muttered, shadows surrounding my ankles, pushing down the sand, as I quickly darted back to the house.

I rushed inside, not caring if Temari or Kankuro saw me. Good thing I didn't care. They both did.

"What were you doing out there?" Temari stared at me.

"You need one of us to be with you!" Kankuro was also staring.

"Gaara counts, right?" I muttered.

"Yeah, if you like being dead," Temari's eyes never left me.

"Well, I was with Gaara," I leaned against the door, "and made him mad, which explains why I'm here and he is not."

"He'd kill you," Kankuro sighed, "I don't think we'll beleive you."

"Fine! Don't beleive me! I don't need you to!" I snapped, darting up the stairs and into my room, where I quickly shut the door, leaving it unlocked.

My heart hurt. It was pounding and it hurt horribly. I slowly walked towards the bed, crawling onto it. I was gasping for breath, something was wrong. Why did I hurt so badly? He scarred my heart as a child. He just dug into that scar. But my heart was hurting worse than ever. It was like he dug into my heart with a blade, cutting it to where there was only a thread from making it break into two. Before I felt his pain, but never this deep. Was part of this his pain as well?

My hand balled into a fist and I brought it to my heart, "damn you, Gaara..." I muttered, my body felt heavy. I was sitting on my knees, soon my head lowered to where it was touching my knees. I was shaking. I brought my other hand behind my head. I wanted to cry. The pain was too much. What was happening? I didn't think that I could ever feel this much pain from my heart. I couldn't cry. No matter how badly I wanted to. I hadn't cried since the day I was born. No. Not after what had happened that day. It was like an incapability to cry.

I heard the door slowly open, but couldn't move. I saw a brown cloth being set beside me, and a hand was on my shoulder.

"Get up," a familiar voice snapped.

"No," I spoke in a shaky voice.

"Get up!" The tone in the voice rose a little.

"Make me," I snapped.

"I'm not killing you, just look at me," the voice said.

"Not happening, Gaara, get out of here, would you?" I muttered.

"No. Look at me," Gaara snapped.

"Make me. Seriously, I won't unless you do," I was being childish.

"Pitiful shinobi, you're acting like a five year old," he muttered.

"Thanks for pointing that out. But to tell you the truth, I can't really move," I muttered.

"Why not?" his tone became cold.

"Because. Just because," I snapped.

"You're being childish again. That isn't an answer," Gaara was frustrated.

"Because. My. Heart. Hurts. Okay? Happy?" I muttered, "kokoro no kizu. Wound of the heart."

"So you can't move? Weakling," Gaara snapped.

"Shut up! Did you come in here to insult me? You think only about yourself. I feel bad for people who have to put up with you!" I snapped coldly, "I blame you for how I'm feeling right now!"

"Shut up," Gaara muttered.

"Make me," I slowly looked up at him, "I don't have to listen to you."

Gaara was silent. I think he was trying not to yell at me.

"Keep your memories. Take mine with you. You think you have life rough? Yeah. Right. If you knew half of my life, and weren't heartless, you'd break into tears," I muttered.

"Shut up," Gaara snapped.

"No! I can talk whenever I want! You can't tell me what to do," I slapped his hand off my shoulder, "touch me and I'll rip your heart out. Literally."

"I don't fear you, and will kill you if you threaten me," Gaara warned.

"You. Kill me? Yeah, like that will happen," I glared at him.

Sand began surrounding me.

"Knock it off!" I snapped, shoving him back, causing him to stumble and fall. As soon as he did, I pinned him to the floor, my knee was in his gut, if he would try lifting up, my knee would dig into him. My left hand was pinning down his shoulder and a black blade was at his neck. My arm had the tattoos running up them.

Sand began digging into my stomach, attempting to push me off like it had during my first encounter, but I had dug my nails into Gaara's shoulder, "call off the sand," I snapped. He didn't.

"What's going on in here?" I heard Kankuro's voice nearing.

"We heard a---" Temari rushed to the door, and stopped speaking, just staring at us.

Kankuro and Temari were standing at my open door, staring at Gaara an me, unbeleiving.

I ignored them, "I can kill you," I muttered, staring at Gaara.

"Did...we interrupt something?" Kankuro asked, hinting towards something perverted.

Temari elbowed Kankuro in the rib.

This time, I heard them. I silently jumped off Gaara, who seemed a little surprised at the moment.

Gaara stood up and pushed past Temari and Kankuro, walking to his room.

"What's on your arm?" Kankuro pointed at the tattoo.

"And what just happened?" Temari looked towards Gaara's room.

"Nothing is on my arm, and Gaara insulted me. So I got mad. Leave me alone," I snapped.

Temari and Kankuro left, closing the door behind them.

I looked out the glass door at the sky, "An'ei was beautiful at night...maybe I can reach it..." I glanced towards the door, "but not right now..."


	8. The Promise

I lay on my bed, my eyes were shut. I couldn't sleep, again. My mind was flooded with thoughts. Why did I get brought here? What was the point in my life? I wanted to go home. An'ei would even be fine. At least people could help me find Konoha from there. I wonder what Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi thought I was doing. I sighed some, sitting up and bringing my knees to my chin. I wanted to go home worse than ever. Could I leave? Surely they'd find me if I returned to Konoha. Maybe I could stay with Sakura for a while if I returned. If not, maybe another teammate could let me stay with them for a while. Even if the other two were guys. And I wouldn't consider Kakashi. Not ever. Why would I dare stay with a pervert? I coughed some, a familiar taste of blood fell into my mouth. I guess earlier, when the sand hit my stomach, it did a bit of damage inside of me. It might heal up soon. I hope.

The door creaked open. I needed to get in the habit of locking my bedroom door. I heard footsteps nearing the bed. They stopped as they were at the bedside.

I sighed, ignoring them.

A hand was placed on my shoulder. I pulled away a little, but felt the hand remain.

"Get out of here," I snapped coldly.

There was no answer. After a moment, the hand was removed and the footsteps moved towards the dresser.

I was still uninterested in finding out who was in my room.

The footsteps returned to my bed, and I felt a small weight on the bed, as if someone were leaning over to me. I could feel a hand touch my neck and tie a familiar cloth on my neck, not to where it was choking me.

"I'm not going to hurt you," a voice whispered in my ear, "I won't ever...I promise..." The pressure on my bed lifted and the footsteps sounds became fainter as they reached the door. The door opened again, I opened my eyes, seeing a faint light from the door. The footsteps stopped for a moment at the doorframe, and I looked over to see the familiar red haired boy, glancing back at me, with cold eyes. Then he shut the door and I listened to the footsteps trailing off to his room.

At midnight, I had about forgotten Gaara's visit a few hours before. I was still thinking of home. I needed to leave!

I stood up quickly and shadows surrounded the glass door. I heard a click of the unlocking, and partially opened door. I slipped the door open just barely enough that I could slip out. I was standing on the balcony. I took off my Konoha forehead protector. Currently, I did not reside in Konoha. And I wouldn't for a while. I put my hand in my pocket, switching the Konoha protector with An'ei's, and put the An'ei protector around my neck loosely. I would return to An'ei for a little bit.

I jumped off the balcony, landing softly on my feet. As soon as I did, shadows surrounded them, my shoes switched to what appeared to be a version of roman sandals.

They were made of leather and wrapped around only a small part of the top of my foot and a thin padding was on the bottom of them to protect my feet, the leather wrapped up my ankle a little.

I glanced up at the room I had been forced to live in for the past few days, and glared at it.

Quickly, I darted down an alley and into the surrounding desert.

After running a distance, I fell onto my knees, trying to catch my breath. I probably shouldn't have done that. If I wouldn't have left, surely Kazekage would try to kill me. "I want to go home..." I whimpered softly, my hair falling into my eyes. But... where was my home? Did I even belong in Konoha? No. Actually. I don't think I did. In An'ei people hated me. And in Suna, Kazekage will kill me in a few days.

I caught my breath, then glanced back, seeing Sunagakure in the distance. There was no turning back now. My life. My choices. I live my life by the day and strike anything that tries to stop me from living my life. My way of the ninja.

I sat in the sand for a few moments before lifting myself up and walking. I thought for a while, walking silently in the sand.

'I won't ever...I promise...' was an echo in my head. I whimpered softly again, trying to block out the sound of his voice. I couldn't. "Shut up...shut up...shut up..." I muttered to myself, walking still. I shouldn't have left. I continued walking, soon forgetting where I was. It was dark out. Clouds covered the sky. I sighed and sat on the ground again, bringing my knees up to my chin and shutting my eyes.

/_'"Mommy... where's Father? You said we were going to go see him! It's been " A little girl shouted to her mother in confusion._

_"He isn't here. He's in a different place. We're staying in An'ei for a while," the mother said to the girl._

_"B-but...why couldn't we have stayed in Hidden Sand then? I had a friend there!" The girl shouted at her mother. This time it was in anger, "you never let me stay someplace! Why can't you just let me be happy? I want to go back and play with Gaara!"_

_"No. He's part of the reason for this move, it's too dangerous for you to be in Suna with somebody like him," the mother muttered, hoping her daughter didn't hear._

_"Wh-what? You-you lied to me! You said it wasn't his fault!" The girl yelled._

_"You heard me? Honey, honey...c-calm down! Don't get mad, please. Take a few deep breaths," the mother sounded panicked._

_"No! You lied to me! How could you?" The girl snapped._

_"You needed a change and I didn't want to make you mad," the woman frowned, backing up a little._

_Later that night, the girl sat on her bed, her back facing the door, as she sat with a stuffed puppy in her hands, murmering, "you're still my friend... she can't make me get rid of you," the girl cuddled the puppy._

_Suddenly, she heard footsteps quickly walking towards her. She reconised that it was her mother's footsteps, due to the sound of them hitting the ground, along with a faint scent that was among her mother. Her mother was breathing quickly and shakily. She didn't know why. She glanced at a window. Shining. Of what? The window had the reflection of her mother walking towards her with something shiny in her hand. Something sharp._

_The girl spun around, "mommy? Wh-what are you doing?" The girl's eyes widened. It was a knife._

_"Just die," her mother muttered, attempting to stab the girl._

_Blood fell onto the ground. But this blood was not the girls. It was the mother's. A warning. A black sheild was where the knife was hitting, which was a few inches from the girl's heart. Blood was trickling from a cut on the woman's arm. The cut led from the woman's wrist to her shoulder. The darkness had lashed out at the mother._

_The girl stared horrified of what happened, the woman was terrified of the girl and the darkness, quickly rushing from the room._

_"Wh-why? She-she wanted to h-hurt me...?" The girl whimpered and cuddled with her puppy, ignoring the tattoos that ran up her arm that were slowly dissapearing.'/_

I sighed, slowly rising. My past. How I hated it. Why did I have to remember? If I could, I would forget everything. I had been thinking so long, the sun had begun to rise. Silently, I continued walking away from Sunagakure, the village I wished that my mother had never made me leave.


	9. Anei Found, The Fallen Raven's Message

Silently, I continued walking, somdering how long it would be before I reached An'ei. I put my hands in my pockets and shut my eyes.

After a few hours, I heard a child shouting to another, who was laughing. My eyes slowly opened and I looked towards a village that was shadowed. Even though nothing was to shadow it, the entire village had a large shadow over it. Silently, I slipped into the village, my hair was covering my eyes. A few people glanced over at me, I could hear some of the older people whispering.

Glancing around, I saw a familiar place. The academy. I quickly walked towards the place, slipping in through the door.

"Excuse me, mind telling me why you're here?" A male looked at me. He had an An'ei proector on his forehead. Obviously the teacher. I knew that though. Stunning he wasn't too old to teach. Children were looking at me, before at each other or the sensei.

"Is that how you greet old students?" I smirked a little, "how disrespectful!"

"Hm?" He stood up and walked towards me.

"Old man, don't tell me me you forgot about one of your dangerous students," I smiled faintly, "do... snakes ring a bell?"

"Zaiaku," the man confirmed.

"Took you long enough!" I laughed softly.

"Come back to pull pranks on people that you never got revenge on?" He sighed.

"No, actually, I'm not, I'm considering seeing about being the Lady of the village," I smirked.

"What? You're kidding! You can't---!" He was cut off.

"Can't what? Why can't I? Hm?" I glared.

"You're a curse to this village. Nobody needs you to rule it," he muttered.

"You know, your lucky you've got students here right now, or you would be in a lot of trouble," I snapped coldly and walked out. It was an interesting meeting with my old academy teacher. Shame he didn't enjoy the visit. Not like I cared. I walked down the street and towards a building. In front of the door, a bulky ninja stood.

"Who are you?" the ninja asked.

"Shouldn't I ask you this?" I muttered.

"No, what do you want?" He glared.

"To get inside," I gave him an idiotic look.

"Why?"

"Because if you don't let me in now, you'll be in a lot of pain. I'm quite serious," I snapped.

"No," he smirked.

"Fine, don't listen to me, just don't say I didn't warn you," I muttered, the tattoo appearing on my arm. Suddenly, he was thrown against the door from getting hit with something black, his weight being pressed against it caused the door to fall back. I sighed and stepped over the door, and him, then continued into the building. I stopped in front of a desk that a man sat behind, who seemed old, and was wearing black. "Hello," I stood still.

He was silent for a moment, then looked at me, "Zaiaku. Are you here to take my place?"

"I'm not really old enough to," I muttered.

"That's fine, that's fine," the man laughed some, "take it."

"I'm not staying here permanantly," I stared at him.

"No worries. If you wish to leave, I'll take your place as lord. Your father's wishes remain," the man slowly stood up and began to leave.

I spun around. Was he kidding? He had to be. Just go and give up this high of a rank for my father's wishes? I wouldn't have.

The man turned around, "one more thing," suddenly a shuriken flew out from the shadows behind me. Silently, I sidestepped as the shuriken flew past, the man laughed some, "one step ahead of me! You can hear things like a dog, that's what your father told me! He was right... unless you have eyes in the back of your head?"

"No. I'm pretty sure, no, possitive I don't have eyes in the back of my head," I assured him.

"Hahaha," the man laughed and walked past the gaurd at the door.

"He was serious? Seriously weird..." I silently walked to the chair, "yeah, he's got a screw loose..." I shook my head as I took a throwing needle, which was pointed up, out of the chair, "he's not very good at pranks." I smirked, pressing my leg onto the chair to check for any more senbon that may have been cleverly hidden. No. None. I silently sat down and began sorting through the messy papers upon the desk.

I started sorting out the missions, my eyes flickering onto the list, "D, B, D, D, C, B, D, B, B, C, A, A," I mumbled as I wrote the missions under the types.

I walked to the door, which had been fixed after the guard got up, and opened it. My eyes flickered to the gaurd, "you see why I deserved to be let in now?"

"Yes, Lady Zaiaku," the guard nodded.

"Good," I smiled faintly, stepping outside and leaning against a wall.

I could hear people whispering about me. Some were disaproving, and some were just plainly about me. I didn't really care for them.

'/_"Hi!" a young Zaiaku smiled at another girl, possibly older than her. They were in An'ei._

_"Hi..." The girl backed away from her._

_"Is something wrong?" Zaiaku asked._

_"My mom says I'm not supposed to play with you. You're a monster. You keep away from me," the girl glared._

_"I'm not a monster!" Her hair fell into her eyes, "why do people say that?"_

_"Because they don't understand you. You are unique, and feared for that," a young man stared at her, probably in his late teens, actually._

_"But...that isn't fair..." the young Zaiaku shut her eyes._

_"Life isn't fair," the man muttered, "if you need help controlling your powers, look for me," he said as he walked away._

_She stared at him, "w-wait! Don't go!" He ignored her, and continued walking. She looked at the ground, listening to the footsteps growing fainter by the second. Her eyes flickered to her shadow. It had a tail./'_

"Heh. Monster," I muttered, picking up the words from one person's conversation. "If I truly was a monster, I'd have destroyed this village by now. Especially from their treatment and whispers about me."

"Lady Zaiaku?" The guard looked over at me.

"I haven't been in this village very long, but people don't seem to like you, is there a reason?" He looked at me.

"Ah," I paused for a moment, "yes. Some may disaprove. Probably most people."

"Is there a reason?" The gaurd's stare reminded me of the man when I was little who told me that unique-ness caused fear.

"It's not your business," I muttered.

"I can help you with your powers, if you want," he smirked some.

"Shut it," I snapped, it was the same voice. Then I looked at the sky, noticing a raven flying towards the building. It was beating it's wings like it was having a hard time moving. Suddenly, it started falling. Quickly, I darted towards where the bird was going to land and skidded onto my knees, catching the bird in my arms. It's wings had sand in it. Assuming that a team got caught in a sandstorm in the nearby desert, I took the note off of it's leg. I quietly unrolled the note. There was one word. It only needed it. I slowly opened my mouth, one word leaving it. The one word on the note, "Suna..."


	10. The Broken Promise, A Bijuu Emerges!

I handed the bird to the guard, "you, take care of the bird," I commanded. That's when I heard it. Screaming. People near the village entrance were screaming. "Damn it!" I turned and darted towards the entrance of the village. My speed increased as I ran, hearing the screaming get louder. It was really starting to hurt my ears.

Sand suddenly flew crashing into a nearby house. Then I saw a wave of sand getting ready to crash down on the village. It was no doubt on who had come for a visit. The wave could destroy the village. I took a shakey breath. Great, the day I chose to take over was the day the village was going to be destroyed.

A little girl screamed as the sand began to crash down, her being the first thing that it was going to take out. My eyes filled with hate. These were the people of my village, and I was just standing there. It was my village, my home, and the people who I've seen since I was born. There stood an innocent girl about to be killed, and she appeared to only be about six years old.

Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari stood on the other side, the safe side, of the wave of sand.

The sand crashed down towards the village. Gaara's face twisted to a smirk, but stopped, as the screams halted and the sand stopped moving. It had stopped midway to crashing down, and was still.

I stood holding the young girl with one of my arms, while the other was held out, covered in the tattoo, my eyes were black as the shadows themselves. The darkness had created a wall to prevent the sand from wiping out the village. Slowly, the sand fell on the other side of the black wall, and the wall faded. I shut my eyes, setting the girl down, and she quickly ran to her mother, who was a short distance behind me.

"Gaara. Back off," I muttered in a deadly cold tone.

He stared at me.

"G-Gaara, can I?" Kankuro looked at him. Temari only stared in disbeleif.

"Go ahead," Gaara muttered.

Suddenly, a puppet rushed towards me, from behind. Karasu was what he called it. It rushed towards me, only to have me hold still. Karasu attempted to hit me, but only fell through, on the other side.

Kankuro looked around, "wha?" His face suddenly became shocked, as I stood in front of him. I took out a kunai and hit it into his shoulder, but he only smiled.

"H-uh?" I stared at him as sand began to fall from his shoulder, "a-a puppet?"

The sand begand to fall from the puppet and I jumped back as it tried to grab me.

Kankuro jumped out of the wrapping on the back of the puppet, "Kuro Ari," he muttered.

"Eh...how can people breathe when they're wrapped up like a mummy?" I sighed lightly, "can't you be normal people?"

All of the sudden, Karasu ran at me, slashing but never hitting. Next thing I knew, Kuroari was behind me with a large chest cavity, and Karasu pushed me into it, the opening shutting as I fell in.

I could hear speaking outside, and held my knees close to my chest.

"W-what should we do with her now, G-Gaara?" I heard the voice of Kankuro ask.

"W-we need to follow orders by Kazekage, right?" A voice asked, it was easily assumed that it was none other than Temari.

"Yes," Gaara's cold voice responded, "kill her."

Kill me? He didn't hesitate. So much for his promise. I probably would have gone back if they would maybe ASK. I mean, before they trapped me in sand, and this time a puppet, all they have to do is say, 'come with us. If you don't, we'll kill your friends.'

Suddenly the puppet fell, I could hear Kankuro saying something like 'Kurohigi Kiki Ippatsu.' Everything that was happening. It was all too fast. I couldn't understand it. They came here and tried to kill everyone. Gaara lied, not even hesitating to say to kill me. And many hated me. Now, they're trying to kill me. It was way too much to handle. I brought my arms up to cover my head, my hands resting on the back of my neck, and my eyes burried into my knees.

Blades shot into the puppet so fast I didn't know what was happening.

Kankuro stood and waited for blood to seep out of the puppet or a scream. Nothing came. There was no sound. No blood. No nothing.

Temari's eyes widened and she took a step back, "do you see that?"

"Yeah...is it chakra?" Kankuro muttered.

"Looks like it," Gaara muttered.

Chakra was visible seeping from the puppet. Suddenly, the chest cavity opened with such force that the door flew off it and landed on the ground in front of it.

The sand siblings stared in disbelief at what they saw next. Tails, four of them. They had bent each blade that was of Karasu's body, and surrounded me.

I slowly lifted me eyes, and a tail moved to allow me being visible to the three. My eyes were blood red. Around them were black like Gaara's. My chakra was black. The tails slammed into the sides of Kuroari, causing the puppet to fall apart, and I jumped back, landing in a very wolf-like position. "You lied," I muttered, my tone resembled death itself.

"Zaiaku," Gaara muttered.

"No. Don't even try to explain!" I snapped with a cold tone. This was the demon. The demon that had caused people to hate and fear me my life. The demon I was trying to keep control of now. It had sensed my anger and shown itself. It had many times before, but it had never reached the state of even four tails. She was using all of her strength to control the beast that was telling her to kill the three now.

"We had the bijuu the entire time?" Kankuro stared.

My eyes flickered to Kankuro, "I should kill you!" I snapped, still trying to control the gobi, five tail wolf. Moments after, I gained enough control to move. Slowly, I forced myself to back up a few steps, the demon trying to force me the opposite way. I backed further until I had enough control. Quickly, I turned and ran away from the village, chakra slowly beginning to surround me to make my appearance more wolf-like than ever before.

Gaara muttered something and dissapeared into the sand, leaving Kankuro and Temari alone.

I stopped in a small clearing in a nearby forest, and fell forwards onto the ground. My eyes were wolfish and the tattoo was now visible running up my arm, around both sides of my neck, and down the other arm. I was beginning to wear out, it was taking all of my energy to prevent myself from losing control. I could usually change back by now, but for some reason I couldn't. The tails were limp and I had chakra appearing to be wolf ears.

Sand ran up in front of me, which caused me to manage a soft whimper, which was all I could ever do. I wasn't able to ever cry for some reason, even when I really wished I could. Gaara stood in front of me as the sand fell away.

"Go away," I mumbled softly, pressing back the demon with the last bits of my energy.

No responce. I suddenly felt hands lift me up and wrap around my waist. I could feel his breath tickle my neck, and I shut my eyes, resting my head against his shoulder. Anybody who saw this would surely think they had gone insane, seeing a girl with four tails and wolf ears limply resting in, the heartless monster, Gaara's arms. "Calm down," I could hear his voice say softly.

"You lied to me... you didn't hesitate," I whimpered softly.

"It was orders from the Kazekage," he sighed slightly.

"You still lied..." I muttered, one of the tails slowly faded away.

"You were the one who ran," he muttered.

"I ran because I was afraid. I want to go home, where I feel safe and have friends," I spoke with a faint harsh tone.

"Then you should have told about the bijuu," he sighed.

"I wouldn't be able to go home then," I shut my eyes, one of the tails slowly faded away.

He didn't respond. He was trying to get me to calm down, and talking wasn't going to help much by how I was reacting.

The tails faded and the chakra was no longer visible. My eyes returned to their normal color and the darkness around my eyes dissapeared, as well as the wolf ears and the tattoo faded into my skin.

He let go of me, and stared at me, "run, run away. If you want to live in Hidden Leaf, go now. We'll end up coming back, since we have to tell the Kazekage. And chuunin exams start in a week," he muttered and dissapeared into the sand.

"Great," I muttered, walking slowly towards where I thought Konoha was. All my heightened senses had gone to what I would have if I were a normal human. It always happened whenever I had started to change. There was no chance I'd find my way through scents and hearing. All I knew was that this forest would lead towards Konoha, and that I had to get back there.


	11. Can't Escape

Stumbling through the forest, my body felt heavy and difficult to move, worse than whenever the wolf tried something like that. I glanced around, "t-this is familiar..." I mumbled lightly, looking at the tree I had sat in on the 28th, the day that I had been captured.

"Zaiaku!" a male's voice shouted.

I couldn't see anything. Everything was becoming extremely blurry, but the voice was familiar, "N-Naruto..." I mumbled lightly, but fell, since I had used all my energy earlier to prevent the gobi's control. I felt hands catch me, but everything began to go black.

It only took me a few minutes, or what seemed it, to shift some. My eyes slowly fluttered open, and I looked up to see Naruto holding onto me. It didn't faze me at all. I didn't blush, didn't move, didn't speak.

"Are you okay?" He blinked some.

"Yeah," I shut my eyes for a moment, wanting to wake up from this nightmare called life. After a minute, I opened them again and sat up, rubbing my eyes and standing. For only a second. Then I stumbled back slightly, and fell onto my knees.

"I found you falling, and caught you! You've been missing for a while now! I found you! Beleive it!" Naruto smiled, with pride in his voice.

"My hero," I mumbled, sarcastically, attempting to stand again. This time, he grabbed my arm to help my balance. "Thanks," I sighed lightly, and began walking.

"Any time!" He smiled. It seemed he was pretty happy with being a 'hero' and 'finding' me.

I leaned lightly on him as we walked, since I couldn't quite keep my balance. But he wasn't Gaara. No, nobody was. Only Gaara could have that name and position. I sighed lightly, walking to my house, and leaning on the door, "thanks Naruto. Now do me a favor. Leave me alone," I sighed lightly, not trying to be mean, "I just need some alone time, to think, you know?"

"Yeah..." Naruto nodded and began to walk away, "where'd you go, anyways?"

"I went on a trip. Where I was isn't any of your business," I shut my eyes, "now, go away."

I walked into my house, and cleaned up, then changed my clothing for a more night-time apparel. "Lady of Anei for not even a day, and I almost destroyed the village," I sighed, "fun, fun," I shook my head. I then fell onto the bed, shutting my eyes slowly.

Next thing I knew, I was slowly opening my eyes to the morning sunlight, and shifted out of bed. I changed into black clothing, like usual, and walked outside to see Sasuke standing in front of my door, cooly.

"Naruto told everyone that you returned," he muttered.

"Hn... not surprising," I shrugged some, leaning back on the doorframe.

"Where were you?" He looked at me calmly.

"Someplace that doesn't consern you," I sighed lightly, walking past him.

It seemed to go on like this each day. Somebody would show up on my doorstep, asking where I had gone. And of course, if Naruto's little story was true. It wasn't. He made up a story about being all heroic and saving my life from renagade shinobi. Revenge time!

I walked up to Naruto, and smiled some, "hey, Naruto!" I shouted, we were in a crowd of people, "I forgot, how many shinobi were after me?"

"Hey...uh...what?" Naruto looked at me confused.

"You said shinobi were after me. How many was it again?"

"Uhh..." Naruto looked embarassed, and his cheeks tinted pink, "...eight? No, nine."

"Nine shinobi! You saved my life!" I smirked. Then I heard what I had been hoping for.

"Nine shinobi? You told me it was fifteen!" A man shouted.

"Fifteen? He told me eighteen!" a woman responded.

"No. Where did the twenty come from!" Another shouted at the woman.

"There weren't that many! It was only twelve!" somebody else shouted.

"Who's right?" somebody asked.

"Yes, I'm curious too, Naruto," I tapped my foot on the ground, "are you sure you weren't just imagining them?"

The next second, Naruto was running away from the crowd of people.

I smirked, jumping onto a few roofs, and followed him. Then I froze, just as I heard an 'oof' from Naruto.

"Watch it!" He shouted angrily at a boy in black, with facepaint.

"Who's this punk?" the boy smirked.

"Watch it, we don't know when He's coming," a girl with blonde hair told him.

The girl. The boy. A week already! He. I'm going through a nightmare. It's a nightmare, I say. The girl: Temari. Boy: Kankuro. Surely, the one Temari referred to as 'He' was Gaara.

They seemed to be in a fight now, as Kankuro was talking to Naruto rudely, while he seemed to have no idea what to do.

"Kankuro," a males voice interrupted, "back off."

Gaara. He was here.

Curse words ran through my mind like water fell down a waterfall. Then I remembered something. The chuunin exams were starting soon! Yes! I have a chance to become a chuunin! But.. Gaara...

Slowly, I began to back away, before turning on my heel and running away from the area, jumping from building ot building, until I was near my house.

Panting, I stopped, near my door.

"Hi!" a voice suddenly shouted, causing me to fall backwards.

"Jeeze, calm down," a woman smiled at me, taking out a slip of paper, "I thought you may like to be in the chuunin exams this year, so I got you a form to fill out," she held it out for me to take.

"T-thanks," I took the slip of paper, and looked over it.

"Fill it out for tomorrow, don't forget!" She smiled, before disspearing in a swirl of leaves.

I sighed lightly, walking into the house and filling out the form. My eyes stared at the paper, though my mind was wandering. The sand siblings were in Konoha. I couldn't enjoy the exams knowing they were here, and would surely aknowlege that I was as well. This was bad. Terribly bad. There wasn't a word that could describe how bad it was. I sighed lightly, dropping the pencil and holding my head in my hands. Tommorrow. Tommorrow the exams. Tomorrow, I'd see the sand siblings again. How could I live through these exams knowing I had to go through them with Gaara there? What would Kankuro and Temari do? Would they just keep away from me? What about during the exams? Would they try to kill or capture me?

"I can't handle this pressure!" I shouted suddenly. I felt like running. Running away from this place. This life. But I couldn't. I wasn't a coward. The gobi wasn't either. My mind and the gobi would never allow me to do such a thing. This seemed to be all about me now. And unlike some, I absolutely hated it...


	12. Trusting Naruto, Kyuubi Revealed!

I took a few breaths, before exiting my home. Time had flown by. Not literally, but it was already getting late, and the sun was soon to set. I sighed softly, and walked around town, my eyes slightly dull. I saw Ino. She was bothering Sasuke this time, but I wasn't in the mood to talk to either of them at the moment. Perhaps Sakura? Kakashi? No, where'd that idea come from? He's probably off reading his perverted _Make-out Paradise_ book, or whatever.

My heart stopped, as I saw Gaara with Temari at the market. I held my breath, and continued walking, hoping they didn't notice me. No such luck. The cruel eyed boy turned his head to look at me, in which I instantly looked away and quickened my pace. My mind was in a daze, and I rushed to an apartment building, slipping inside. Room...Room... no... not that one... There! Please be home... I was begging as I knocked on the apartment door, _please be home_.

The door creaked open, and the happy voice of Naruto invaded the hall, "Zaiaku! What're you doing here! Hey... sorry about before, with the ninja lie thing... and all... It won't happen again, beleive it!" He smiled.

"Yeah... don't worry about it..." I mumbled softly.

"Something wrong? Oh! You're still out in the hall! Come in!" Naruto laughed slightly, possibly from embarrassment of not inviting me inside sooner.

"Thanks..." I murmered lightly, slipping past him, and into his house, soon finding a seat to take.

I had to go someplace with somebody I knew. Naruto probably wouldn't be too busy to see me, he never was too busy to talk to friends, especially if there was a chance he could get ramen out of it later on. He didn't have parents, either, so I figured it wouldn't matter if I surprised him with a visit. I might've visited Sasuke, since he didn't either, but he was tied up with Ino at the moment, and Sakura was probably going to fight with them right now about having Sasuke, also with it getting late, her mom may not appreciate it highly to get company right before bed.

"Something wrong?" Naruto questioned again, since I hadn't answered the first time.

Ever since I had moved here, it was almost as if we were siblings, yet not. A bond like that. Something where we could share things with each other. Where I had really been, and what I was doing when I was captured could never be told, even to him. I knew that telling him the truth would result in problems.

"The sand siblings, you know, the three from Suna, are here... and chuunin exams are starting soon. Did you know that you can get killed in the Chuunin Exams? I found out from villagers. Also, the strongest of the sand siblings is said to be deadly, and be able to kill people, with a lust for blood..." I muttered quickly, "I don't want to fight with him, I don't want you to fight with him. I don't want anyone to fight with him. They'd die in moments..." I had to breath, so I stopped speaking.

Naruto held a vacant look. Puppy-like cuteness in the look, yet informed everyone that he was a complete idiot. He took a few seconds to try to understand what I said, "o...kay? I could understand when you told me about when you were little, but you lost me here..."

"Nevermind..." I sighed some, and shook my head.

"Alright..." Naruto mumbled, a confused look covered his face, "I'm... going to get water... do you want anything?"

"No," I mumbled plainly, and glanced out the window. The sun was just starting to set. Surprising, Naruto had a great veiw of it from his house. I always found the sunset stress releiving. Is this great of a veiw why Naruto was always in such a good mood? I stood up the chair, and walked to the window, to look at it.

"Cool veiw, huh?" Naruto appeared by me, a glass of water in his hands.

"Yeah..." I murmered softly, glancing at him.

He sat down the glass, and looked at me, smiling some.

He reminded me of a fox. Whisker-like marks on his cheeks, an absent look on his face, yet when necessary can get out of a lot.

I smiled slightly, then looked out the window again, my eyes glittering slightly in the fading light. For a few moments it was silent, but then I parted my lips, "I'll leave after the sunset... I don't want to bother you..."

"You aren't bothering me!" Naruto smiled. Fox-like look. Why's he look so much like some damn fox! He interrupted my thoughts with words, "stay as long as you like! Beleive it!"

I smiled some still, "thanks..."

Soon it was dark. The room was as well. Naruto, apparently, had forgotten that there were lights needed when the sun was gone, or he wouldn't see. After watching him searching, and hitting or tripping over things, he finally located the switch, and flicked on the lights.

I sat down again, and sighed some.

Naruto regained his vacant look, "so... you're worried about the Chuunin Exams? What, are you scared?" He smirked at his last words.

"No, but be warned. People will be scared when they see you're face!" I snickered, gaining a playful attitude.

"Yeah, when they reconise me as the next Hokage!" Naruto laughed.

"Oh yeah. I see that happening in the future... wait until a swarm of pigs grow wings and are flying outside your window, busily talking in english, while waiting for you to jump out your window and fly with them to a made-beleive land!"  
"Hey!" Naruto glared, but in a foolish way.

We were laughing for hours -- literally. Surely, any neighbors Naruto had, if he had any, wouldn't be happy for being kept up all night. When I noticed the time, I stood up and walked towards the door, "I have to leave now, Naruto. It's almost morning, and I've been here all night talking! That probably rules out sleeping tonight," I smiled.

"Aw," Naruto whined, standing up and walking to the door behind me.

I opened the door, and turned slightly, to face Naruto. Within seconds, the door slammed shut, and I jumped slightly in shock from the sound. Naruto's hand held onto my wrist, pinning it to the door. I was pinned between him and the door. A chill ran down my spine as his face came closer. This wasn't how I had planned the night. I shivered slightly, as his lips softly touched mine. He wasn't Gaara, though. My free hand pressed against his chest, trying to push him back. It wasn't working, I felt his other hand press against the door, by my shoulder. I could almost feel flames emitting from this blonde-haired boy's body, as he pushed me closer into the door, his lips still pressed against mine.

That's when I noticed something behind him. It wasn't really there, but I could see a fox-like demon behind the boy. It was making it's presence aware. The Kyuubi. The demon Suna was wanting.

I was cold. So... cold... I couldn't pay attention any longer, and my vision began to blur. The Kyuubi made me start to panic, the creature's eyes were staring at me, as if laughing. I think the shock was getting to me.

Naruto pulled away, noticing I was shivering a great deal, and my face was pale, as if I were going to pass out. He placed a hand on my shoulder -- or at least he was going to, but I cringed to his near-touch, and slowly slipped onto the floor. I shut my eyes from the shock. Was it fear? Or was the Kyuubi at fault? Next thing I knew, everything was black. The only thing we didn't notice was a sand eye watching the entire thing...


	13. Never Really Alone

My vision slowly began to return, as I sat up. _Weak... Passing out at the sighting of another Bijuu..._ A voice taunted me, with laughter. The Gobi. Curiousity struck me. If I had seen the Kyuubi, did Naruto see the Gobi? "Mm..." I whined slightly, looking around the room. My head hurt, and I had no idea where I was... Until, of course, I saw Naruto asleep in a chair. Well... actually, I should have _heard_ him, since he was snoring. Loudly. I stood up, and shut my eyes for a moment, before I heard a crash, and thud, as well as an 'oof!'

Naruto was now laying on the ground, wide awake, with the chair tipped over. His eyes were buldging from his head, and looked panicked for a moment, before standing up, and placing the chair upright. He looked at me, and smiled, "ah! Zaiaku! You're awake! You passed out, or something, and I didn't want to carry you to your house, so I let you sleep here!" God, he was cheerful this morning. Wait... it was morning, right? Yeah... sunlight... not too bright... morning.

"Uh-hu..." I mumbled. It caused me to get an itchy - something crawling up my spine- feeling to know that I slept in Naruto's bedroom, let alone his bed. He was nice, but his home was a mess, and god knows when he's actually tried to clean his room, or bed. I needed a shower... eck...

"Yeah... Sorry about the other night... I... didn't think you'd do that..." Naruto was hesitating, and sounded nervous.

"Ehhh..." I paused. Words at this moment was difficult. Extremely difficult. "No... it's okay... I thought I had seen something..."

"Eh? What?" Naruto looked at me oddly.

"A fox...demon..." I thought it was a fox, anyways. Of course, it could have been a hallucination from the surprised of Naruto kissing me. I mean, he does kind of remind me of a fox. The surprise could have triggered something in my mind. "But, it was just my imagination, surely," I added.

"..." Naruto looked away, and walked to the window without responding. It caught me as a shock, it seems like he would have said something saying that it was amazing I'd think that, and it was crazy.

I sighed some, "yeah... it was odd... It looked like one of the bijuu I've heard of... Ever heard of it? It's the Kyu--"

"The Kyuubi..." Naruto cut me off, "I know..." he spoke gloomly.

After several moments of silence, I turned around, to face the door. Maybe he needed to be alone for a while. Perhaps claiming that I had been reminded of such a demon bothered him. Upset him, in a way. Since it was him kissing me, wasn't it? Maybe he was sad, because when he was close like that, I thought he resembled the demon. I was just about to touch the doorknob when I heard his voice.

"It wasn't an illusion, or genjutsu... you really saw it..." Naruto mumbled lowly, to where most humans wouldn't hear, or understand what he had said. I wasn't most humans though.

"..." My hand trembled, as I noticed my entire figure was, while my hand was hovering above the doorknob.

"I didn't know you would see it..." Naruto still mumbled, apparently upset.

"You're a jinchuriki?" I murmered softly, and barely managed to turn in order to face the boy.

Naruto was sitting in a chair in front of the window, his elbows resting on the windowcil, and his face covered by his hands. He nodded slightly, it was obvious he seemed ashamed.

I was still trembling. My head was spinning from the shock. Half of me wanted to walk over and comfort him, the other half wanted to rush out the door and get out of this village. How could a Jinchuriki be as happy as Naruto always acted? Why didn't he act isolated, like me? Or cruel as Gaara? I took a shaky step forwards, barely making the second step, before falling onto my knees. A shocked look was on my face. Naruto was said to be the number one ninja at surprising people, but him having a bijuu? No, not just that, but having the strongest bijuu. Nine tails was the highest amount of tails known, and that was the one and only Kyuubi.

Naruto looked at me with a look of betrayal. As if he had just lost a loved one. "Leave..." he mumbled. Then he sighed, and turned away.

"N-Naruto...I--" I started

"Leave!" Naruto shouted while spinning around. That look. That look. The look of the Kyuubi.

I didn't argue, as I slowly managed to rise, and slipped out of his room as quickly as possible. I rushed out of the building. I wanted to get home. Someplace with a calming, sweet scent, where I felt safe and secure. I couldn't beleive how Naruto had reacted. So 'Gloom and Doom' not so Naruto. I had almost been certain he would of smiled some, instead of being so upset. Why wouldn't he let me speak? Was he afraid of what I would have said?

I sighed some, and walked quickly, trying to avoid people.

"Aww, Sasuke, please!" I heard Sakura's voice invade my thoughts.

"No, I already told you that," Sasuke growled some.

"Hi, Sakura, Sasuke..." I murmered softly, walking up to them. Maybe getting the two seperated would help up my mood? If Sasuke was happy, it could help. And Sakura could possibly be happy to think of new ways to get her paws on the poor guy.

"Hi, Zaiaku! How've you been?" Sakura turned around to face me, "I was just talking to Sasu-" she turned to face Sasuke, but he had already vanished, "-ke? Sasuke? Where'd he go?" She sighed.

"Dunno... he was there a second ago..." I murmered still, "oh well, maybe you could try to come up with another way to get him on a date with you?"

"Yeah... I guess..." Sakura whined, and sighed again, "well... then... I guess I'm going home..." she pouted, and walked away.

"See you," I mumbled, and walked the opposite way as the pink haired girl. I sighed some, and shook my head, trying to straighten out my thoughts.

"Thanks..." Sasuke muttered, as he appeared beside me.

"No problem... always glad to help..." I smiled falsely. Glad? _Glad?_ I wasn't glad. Not happy at all.

"Is something bugging you?" he asked as he walked at my side. He reminded me of a cat. Liked to be alone, yet happy to accompany specific people.

"Nope," I answered quickly, "nothing's wrong. There shouldn't be anything wrong. Does it look like there's something wrong? Because there isn't.." my voice became quicker, but my last sentence had slowed down.

"Okay..." Sasuke sighed some, giving me an eery look, before dissapearing as quickly as he had appeared.

Now thinking about it, was I the only girl in the village that wasn't in love with the guy? I mean, he's the normal, every-day ordinary boy, who just happens to be in a clan that died out. Big deal. I'm a Jinchuriki, and in a clan that's gone, but I don't blurt it out. Actually, the bijuu was the one that whiped out the few remaining members of my clan. Big whoop. I really didn't care.

I sighed, as I stopped in front of my house. I looked at the windowcil. Just to make sure there weren't any eyeballs sitting there staring at me with the creepy look, made of sand. Thankfully, there wasn't. I sighed in releif. No replays of last time. Whoo. I walked into my house, and placed my kunai holister on the table, before I heard something in the corner. My eyes flickered there, as I turned around to face it. I did so just as the cruel eyes of the red haired boy appeared, and he stepped out of the shadows...


	14. Lucky, Or Unlucky, Timing

Author Note: Okay, You'll notice this doesn't follow the anime Chuunin Exams...

* * *

I looked at the boy in disbeleif, before shaking my head. It was an illusion, or hallucination. I bet Naruto faked that upset act and used some sort of genjutsu on me here. Wait... I'm not talking about the same Naruto that painted the hokage monument, am I? I sighed. Of course this was a genjutsu. Gaara wouldn't just appear in a person's house, would he?

"Get out," I mumbled, "or at least _knock _before entering," I glared at him. It couldn't be Gaara.

"..." The boy was silent, and took a step forwards. His eyes were still cold, as he stared at me.

It began to make me worried. Surely Naruto was playing a trick on me. It had to be him, since I had mentioned the sand siblings the other night. "N-Naruto?" I glanced around. Silence wasn't like him, but I doubted it was Gaara.

"He's not here," Gaara glared at me, his cold voice rang in my ear.

It's then that I realized that it wasn't a trick, but the actual Gaara. Naruto wasn't capable of perfectly copying the boy's voice. I didn't really know why Gaara was here, and I didn't really want to know. All I wanted was for him to leave my house, and village. Why did I have to be in the village that shinobi came to for the chuunin exams?

"G-Gaara..." I mumbled lowly. My eyes stared at him cruelly, "what the hell do you want?"

"...Are you afraid?" Gaara smirked, not answering my question.

"Afraid? Does this..." I took a kunai off of the table and threw it at him, "..look like I'm afraid?"

Sand rose up, creating a small sheild that protected Gaara from the kunai, "actually, yes..." his voice didn't have a hint of kindness in it. I doubted he was too pleased about the kunai being thrown. He started to walked towards me. Just as he did, his eyes shot to the door, as knocking was heard. He grumbled lowly, and dissapeared.

"One moment..." I sighed lightly in releif. I shook my head some, and walked to the door. Slowly, I creaked open the door slightly.

"Boo," a woman spoke dully, as she looked through the crack in the door, waiting for me to fully open it, "you usually have swung the door open by now. Sudden change?" she questioned, her blue eyes peering still through the crack.

"Oh!" I shouted, and smiled, opening the door quickly, to allow a woman with brown, short hair to walk into the house.

"Have you filled out that form I gave you?" The woman turned on her heel, to stare at me. She had a calm, yet happy, look on her face, almost as if excited, "if you do, we can gather up Team twelve , before the Exams. Did you forget what day it is?" A teasing look appeared on her face, "since you weren't here last night. Curious, where were you? You weren't at Sakura-chan's either... and I doubt you'd be with Shiro-kun or Nadokai-kun..."

"I was talking with a friend..." I answered after a short moment, "uhhh... I'm not ready for the exams yet... ack! Wait... Exams? Eep!" I shouted suddenly, "stop time! I need to get ready!"

"I'll meet you by Konoha's entrance with the boys, then. We'll meet Team Seven at the exams, okay?" the woman smirked.

"Y-yeah, Yami-sensei! I'll hurry!" I muttered, as she dissapeared, and I rushed around the house to get ready.

It didn't take too long, before I had changed my clothing to something fit for the exams, and used the Body Flicker technique to appear by the entrance, just as two boys my age ran up, Yami-sensei walking behind them.

"Hey!" A black haired boy rushed up to me, "didn't take you long!" he smiled. He wasn't the idiot of the two boys, I knew that. Shiro, the brighter one. He learned things the quickest, and was rather fast for his age. He always seemed to wear a yellow tee with black shorts. Always.

"We just got here, and the girl made it here faster!" the second boy grumbled. He always thought guys were better, and always got beat up. It was obvious, since he always had bandages scattering his arms and face, while cuts were still visible. I don't think he had enough room for more bandages. He had brown messy hair, and usually wore a jacket and shorts. His knees were cut up too. Obviously, this was Nadokai. In the academy, I think he was a lot easier to handle. Now that we were on teams... Not so.

"Since _when_ do you wear skirts?" Shiro gave me an eery look.

"Since there are shorts underneath them..." I gave him a stupid look. Actually, I hated wearing shorts, but I hated wearing skirts, so I wore shorts beneath a skirt. The other reason was, since I had been busy trying to calm down from the 'Suna' thing a week ago, I had lost track of time, and couldn't find a pair of pants similar to what I usually wear that were clean. I still had fishnet though. Today, a sleevless black shirt, with the left black arm warmer and a right white that had fishnet running the small length between the two. Fishnet was also visible leading to my neck, where my black forehead protector stopped it, as well as it running down the small remainder of my stomach that hadn't been covered by the shirt. It also ran down my left thigh, and up my right calf. Whoo. Big deal. It's all black, like usual. I liked black since I easily could blend in with the shadows in it.

"Feh.." Nadokai looked away, "aren't we supposed to be meeting Seven right now?"

"C'mon..." I sighed lightly, and started walking.

"I'll see you three later. Don't misuse anything I taught you. Or Kakashi, for that matter. He was rather kind about having the teams be together..." Yumi sighed, and dissapeared.

It wasn't long to reach where we were supposed to be. No matter how much searching we had done, though, we couldn't find Team Seven. Once we were there, I could hear people talking about the team of rookie genin, which was no doubtedly Seven, by description. Why couldn't I find them, though? There were too many people around to identify by scents, but surely they'd still be nearby.

I picked up a familiar scent, causing my eyes to flicker to the right. Cold eyes were staring at me. So cold. They were easily identified. I couldn't help but stare at him. He trapped me, then set me free. Then he showed up in my house. A curiousity struck. Why had he shown up in my house? What was he planning?

"Zaiaku?" Shiro questioned, but I only heard it muffled.

"Zaiaku? Zai!" Nadokai shouted. Sadly, he was standing right beside me, and the Gobi took that second to tune in, too.

"Ack!" I yelped, and rubbed my ear, "don't shout when you're standing by me, I can't miss your voice even when it's small and questioning, Nadokai, it's too annoying!" I snapped, glaring at him.

"Would you two knock it off?" Shiro looked at us, and sighed.

I shook my head, and straightened my positioning, before turning my head slightly to the side, glaring at Nadokai out of the corner of my eyes. He was so annoying. I never really did get along with him. Sadly he was on my team. Great, what more could I ask for? A mass of locust showing up ijn konoha and destroying everything in sight? Nevermind, if Nadokai was in my team, after I hoped he wouldn't be, then the locust weren't too far off.

I sighed softly, still questioning Gaara in the back of my mind. What was I going to do during the Chuunin Exams? What if we were to fight each other?


	15. A Trick Naruto Should Remember

"Hey, I'm going to walk around a little... _alone_, okay?" I sighed softly, "if I find team seven, I'll find you..."

"But we're supposed to stay together, like Yami-sensei told us!" Shiro argued. He was also one that didn't like the ideas of being tied to a tree for a few hours as punishment for disobeying the sensei. That or severe training, if she had time to watch over the troublesome one. In this case, it would be them, for not making me stay. That's how things worked to her, I guess.

"Whatever..." Nadokai shrugged. He never cared. Once again, his theory that males were better was completely off, but he didn't care. He could believe what he wanted to, I didn't really care, as long as he mentioned nothing to me. Last time, I kicked him so hard he doubled over, and refused to move for quite a while. Shiro said it was a shame we hadn't counted.

Before they had time to say anything else, I was already gone. I couldn't stay in Gaara's sight. It was bothering me too much. I sighed, my mind drifting off. Possibly chatting with the Gobi, since I could hear it mumbling something, though I really had no idea what it was saying. Could be mindless blabber from being locked up in a child for several years, or could be plotting something, aloud. Gobi was odd like that. The wolf never knew when to be silent. It was much more quiet when I was little, but I think putting up with me since I was born started to annoy it. Not really certain. Not really certain I cared, either.

I paused, and looked forwards. Sakura and Sasuke were talking, while they were off a short distance from Naruto. He looked a little different. Or was it that I sensed a personality change? I wasn't sure, but it was a lesser happy look compared to before. I had worried, at first, that Naruto would drop out of the Chuunin Exams from what had happened the other night, and I was glad he hadn't.

I was a little upset though, since he looked at me, but instantly looked away. It wasn't much like him to do so, and it confused me alot. Could it be that he thought I hated him for the Kyuubi? Or maybe of what the next conversation would bring up from the other night, the kiss or Kyuubi. Neither were something I felt like I'd openly discuss with him. It would be awkward... if that was even a good word for it. Though, it didn't really seem like that fit very well either. Perhaps there wasn't really a word for it?

I sighed, standing still for a moment, before taking a few steps towards him. I felt bad, since he wouldn't even say anything, but instead continued to look away from me. I sighed again, and soon found myself standing in front of him. Still, he said nothing, making me feel worse. I couldn't beleive that he hadn't even said hi yet. It was definitely unlike him to do so.

Sasuke and Sakura were walking away from Naruto, possibly to be further bothered by Sakura's flirtiness, and Sasuke's...well.. not flirtiness... But, I didn't really seem fazed by their dissapearance. Naruto, on the other hand, was so busy trying not to look towards me, that he was staring a hole into the wall, and hadn't noticed them leave for a moment.

"N-Naruto?" I whispered softly, trying not to bother him too much. Did I do somethign to make him mad?

No responce. His eyes flickered to merely glance at me, before looking away. He was standing right in front of me, and the best thing he could do was look away? No comment? Weird, weird Naruto. Bad, bad Naruto. Bad fox demon! Bad!

"N-Naruto..." I rose my voice a little, to gain his attention. It failed miserably. He ignored me still. What was he trying to do? Just stare at a wall vacantly, while I kept trying to get his attention, and failed horribly each time?

I sighed, "Naruto...hates me?" I murmered weakly, and looked away. I whimpered slightly, glancing at him only once, for a split second, to see his guilt pinned face turn to look at me. It only took a second to notice him looking upset. I still swhimped slightly, "why does Naruto hate me? Did I do something wrong? What did I do?"

"Zaiaku..." Naruto sighed some, and took me by surprise. He hugged me tightly, as if trying to stop me from crying. I, however, was nowhere near crying. The first 'Naruto hates me?' had slipped out when I figured it was my fault. From there, I realized what I could do, and faked being upset. Little did I know that it would result in him _hugging_ me to death.

At this point, I had to fake. Sadly, I couldn't cry, so all I did was whimper. My hand slightly gripped his jacket, "Naruto... hates me..." I repeated, but this time without questioning it, as if I were possitive he hated me. "What did I do? I want to fix it... can I fix whatever made Naruto mad at me?" I spoke like a child, reffering to the person in third person, rather than saying 'you', I said his name. I had the one time before when I was upset, and so he might fall for it more easily. He was a bit of a... baka...

"Zaiaku... it's okay..." Naruto mumbled, trying to calm me down. It was definitely not as soothing as Gaara's voice had been. Shame. I would have prefferred it be Gaara. But still, did Naruto have to _hug_ me?

I burried my face in Naruto's shoulder, "no... it isn't... a friend is mad... and I don't even know what I did wrong..." I murmered, my voice slightly muffled in Naruto's jacket, but he didn't seem to really care.

"No... I'm not mad at you... I'm not, calm down. It's nothing, really," Naruto laughed slightly.

"Then... why?" I whispered softly, a faint smile tracing my lips, thus the reason I had to hide my face.

"It's just... what you saw..." Naruto was pausing between words.

"Oh, so if I pretended I saw nothing, you wouldn't have any problems?" I smirked, pulling back.

"Uh... Zaiaku!" Naruto looked away, growling curse words under his breath.

"You know... I think that a lot of people would dissaprove of the words you're saying right now..." I mumbled. I shook my head, "seriously, though, why are you making it look like it's _my_ fault that I saw that?" I questioned, straightening my position a little.

"It's not your fault, I guess..." Naruto sighed, "it's just... aren't you afraid?" He had paused for a short time, between words but nothing much. I hadn't really noticed. Gobi pointed it out for me. I hated that.

"Uh, am I shreiking with fear in my voice right now?" I gave him a stupid look, "you were telling me to calm down, seriously, I don't really understand what the big deal is. Well, I do, but you don't have to be so dramatic over that. It's nothing too big," I smiled some.

"You found them!" somebody shouted from behind me. Sure enough, Nadokai. He had just shown up, so he hadn't seen anything. Shiro was close behind them.

"Hey guys!" Naruto shouted, causing Sasuke and Sakura to turn their heads and notice that my teammates had shown up.

I looked at the two, "hey Sakura! Hey Sasuke!" I smiled some, "what'cha doin' over there?"

"Nothing," Sasuke answered dully, and walked to the group. I bet he'd do anything to get away from being alone with pink hair.

Sakura sighed some, and walked up to the small group of genin, and started talking. It was short lasted though, when the Chuunin Examiners appeared in the front of the room.


	16. Chuunin Exams! The Goal: Cheat!

I sighed, looking at the examiners, though not really paying attention. My thoughts were off someplace else, once again, listening to the Gobi talking to itself about complete randomness. I couldn't understand what that crazy wolf was talking about. One moment, I heard it mention something about the chuunin exam, then the next it was mumbling about what type of food I should eat later, and if I should visit anyone. Then, it started talking in mumbles, to where I couldn't understand anything. Complete jibberish.

"Alright?" A voice shouted, snapping me into reality.

"Eh... What?" I murmered softly, to Shiro.

"We're about to take the written exam. We all get assigned seats. We aren't allowed to cheat, or we get more points deducted than if we actually get it wrong. _Cheat_..." His last word was low and quiet, "they want us to, or they wouldn't have this type of system. I'm going to use my special jutsu to give Nadokai the answers, since if one fails, we all do. If you need help, change the location of your forehead protector to cover one of your eyes. From there, I'll handle it. If I need help, I'll take mine off my arm and put it on my forehead, glance around to see every-so-often to garantee that I'm still doing okay. You're smart enough to get at least a few right... I think... or at least copy without being caught..." he was speaking in an extremely low and quite whisper.

Nadokai was staring at us, "what are you saying?"

Shiro sighed, "our plan, baka. Rememer, adjust your protector for help.." he reminded him, and shook his head, to go to his seat. Nadokai nodded, lipping an 'if you mess up, I'll kill you,' to me, before walking away.

The papers were passed out, and I started reading the first question. _Eh? This is too difficult for Genin to handle. I mean, it gets harder as it goes on. What is wrong with these people? Is this why they wanted us to cheat? Shiro was right!_ I thought, glancing around the room. Shiro was two rows ahead of me, and slightly to the left, but not too far, perhaps two or three seats.

He had a consentrated look on his face, as I glanced back, to notice Nadokai staring dully at his paper. His forehead protector covered one of his eyes, as he kept a dull and vacant look on his face temporarily, before he scribbled something on his paper.

I looked down at my paper silently, before writing in the first answer, up to the fifth, in which time I had to stop, catching a glint from Shiro's protector. He was good with measurements, and probably had figured the perfect angle to cause the light to bounce off of his forehead protector and hit my eye. I had to remember to kill him later for blinding me in one eye temporarily. He could have made it shine on my paper.

I took my hand and covered my eye, which had just been regaining vision. Shiro took a glance back at me, before regaining a consentrated look, and I could see his paper. He was stuck on the fifth question. I had just finished it. I sighd softly, as his consentration broke, noticing an unusual 'shadow' slipping to his pencil. Now, I was the one consentrating. He placed his hand on the pencil, but lightly, allowing it to move at it's own will, as it scribbled the answer down, before dissapearing.

Now, I didn't have to worry about using that around Shiro or Nadokai. I had already explained to them the truth. Er... sort of... I came from a clan, so I told them it was a rare bloodline trait. Not like there were any other members of my clan alive to say otherwise, anyways. Nobody could say different since they didn't know, unless they knew the truth about the gobi. Of course, that wasn't too many.

I looked at the ceiling for a moment, thinking, before writing down the next answer. It wasn't as if I wasn't cheating. Nobody could know how I was cheating, though. The Gobi approved of cheating, stealing, violence, and so on, so it was easy to get it to tell me the answers that it knew, since being alive for so long, the thing should be smart. It was. Also, it didn't want to be in a failure's body, so it was telling me some of the answers. The nineth question made it pause though.

**_I'm going to kill whoever made this test. It's difficult for mere children to even consider doing this! They should either make it simple, or so difficult that the children go crazy over it, and start to panic! I want to see little kids snapping!_** It whined, before mumbling on about something else. Old makes attention span short?

I noticed the boy beside me whining about sand, and my eyes flickered towards his paper, as I noticed a sand eyeball. Gaara's cheat was simple. I shrugged it off. I had done one through five by myself, and gotten help up to eight, but the Gobi was sidetracked and didn't help on nine.

I sighed softly. Too difficult, Shiro was doubling his jutsu to cheat for him, and Nadokai by taking looks through it on other's papers, then using it to show Nadokai.

Shiro had re-adjusted his protector to show he didn't want any more help, and placed his pencil down. I could use my jutsu to see the motions of the girl in front of me, and watch her to see what she wrote down, but I thought testing out Shiro's jutsu may be fun too. I never needed to use it before.

Quietly, I untied my protector and put it on my forehead, adjusting it so that the light bounced off it, and onto a peice of glass on the ceiling, causing the light to hit Shiro's paper, and make him notice it. Earlier, he had lipped to me around where to place my protector to make it do so, when he saw me sit down. I hadn't realized until he had pointed up that he had gotten a peice of glass lodged in the ceiling.

He glanced back at me, and nodded slightly, as I covered my left eye with the protector. He gained a serious look, as he stared down at his paper, and I could see it in the eye that I had covered. For a moment, my sight faded in my right eye, as he used it to see what answer I had been questioning, before vision returned to it. He placed his finger beside the answer, and I wrote it down, before lifting up my protector, and resting my head on my hands.

We waited, but then noticed the boy beside me glancing over to my paper, and smirked some. A dark shadow formed around the leg of his chair, since it was tipping to the side. A snap was heard, and a clink, before a loud crash. The snap had been from the chair leg breaking, the clink was of the peice of the chair falling to the ground, followed by the crashing of the boy, who couldn't balance his chair on one leg. To my surprise, that was all he needed.

"Number twenty-nine! You're out of here! Take your team with you," an examiner shouted.

"B-but, I wasn't cheating!" the boy beside me shouted, as he stood up.

"Yeah, right," A girl snuffed, as she stood up, "thanks a lot, I had just finished my exam, too."

"You're going to pay..." Another boy growled at the other, following the two team-mates out.

"Alright! Time's up!" The head examiner shouted, to the group that was still remaining. Both people beside me had been eliminated. I looked to the row next to me, and the only boy remaining there was none other than him. Gaara. He had gotten this far.

"Okay, the tenth question is the most difficult! Get it wrong and you leave. Raise your hand if you want to give up now and spare yourself," the examiner shouted.

Several people rose their hands and stood to leave. As they did, I glanced at Nadokai and Shiro, who both kept a calm look on their faces. Luckily, neither were considering leaving, or we all would have to.

The examiner smiled some, and looked over the handful that had remained, "to those of you who have remained..." he paused...


	17. Congrats! First Exam Clear!

(Note that it's extremely optional to read anything above the divider. It's not all that important, just the author talking, semi-randomly about the story, as well as the disclaimer...)

Acidd: Hey! Thanks for reviewing everyone!Sorry, it may take me a little longer to add updates for a few days, or weeks, I'm going to attempt to draw Team Twelve, or at least Zaiaku. Oooh... yeah...I also wanted to state the whole 'Zai's mom trying to kill her, Gaara's dad trying to kill him' thing was never actually intentionally meant to make them alike... When I had set up this story, I based Zaiaku after a character I RP with. I never knew, until after putting in that part, that Gaara's father did indeed want him dead. If I would have known before, I probably wouldn't have had that in there. Completely unintentional. I guess there are a few differences between that thing, but still... figuring that out made me just feel like an idea theif... In a way it's not, if you knew why Zai was almost killed, but I'm not telling right now!

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters in Naruto, blah blah blah. I really doubt anyone would think this... but I'm trying to avoid getting in trouble. I'm pretty sure everyone knows who's made up, and who isn't. For Idiots: Zaiaku, Shiro, Nadokai, and Yami-sensei are mine, mine, mine, along with An'ei, A.K.A Hidden Shadow. Same goes for the country Anei is located in, but that was never named in this story, even ifI did give it a name.

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"...You've passed the written exam!" the head examiner finished his sentence, smiling.

There were several people murmering, and questioning about what happened to the last question. I glanced back at Nadokai, who happened to be sharing the same expression as most of the people in the room, before looking at Shiro. He seemed calm, and waited for an explaination quietly, although he might have already figured it out.

He was the most intelligant of our team, I was the one with the easiest time with chakra use and jutsu learning, while Nadokai was... uh... the best at not giving up? Yeah... I'll just say that, although he was actually the best at acting like a hard-headed idiot.

I sighed softly, already having figured it out. Shiro probably had too. Nadokai... well... the vacant look on his face gave away that he had no clue on what was happening.

"The tenth question was that! Congrats!" The man smiled, "if you didn't realize, this wasn't a test that most of you could just use your brains on. You were intended to cheat, and not get caught. You'll be put in circumstances that, as a shinobi, you'll need to use your skills to catch your opponent off guard. Those of you that are still here, have managed to take the test without getting caught while cheating... there were a few examiners pretending to be genin here, that actually did know the answers since you all needed somebody to cheat off of..." he paused again.

Suddenly, smoke filled the room, and people began to grow a little more loud, questioning what was happening. I could hear Nadokai doing the same. He was a pain, and probably caused people to look down on our team.

"Congratulations..." A dull voice mumbled from the front of the room.

I sighed, shutting my eyes for a few moments, waiting for the smoke to clear. **_Open your eyes, it's pointless to have them closed so that you can't see when the smoke clears,_** Gobi grumbled lowly.

"There's still quite a few here," the voice mumbled, as the smoke cleared to reveal a woman, probably in her late twenties, standing in front of the first row of desks. She shook her head, "still..." she paused, "okay, for the remainder of you that are here, meet me for the second exam by the Forest of Death, got it? Train tonight, you'll need to be strong for tommorrow. You're dismissed, get out of here," she commanded, as genin began to stand up and leave.

I, however, waited in my seat for a few moments, before rising, and walked to Shiro's side, as Nadokai ran up to us. He was grinning widely, and seemed to have a bottomless pit of energy at the moment.

"We made it!" He shouted finally, as we were just leaving. Nobody had been behind us, since we were the last genin to exit. "I'm going to train real hard tonight so that whatever we're doing tommorrow, I'll be ready for!" Nadokai spoke quickly.

"Don't be an idiot," Shiro looked at Nadokai, who, in return, gave him a confused stare.

"If you train, you'll be tired tommorrow and won't be capable of preforming as well..." I finished what Shiro was probably going to say.

"But that wom-" Nadokai started.

"Wanted to see who she could trick into training until they were so exhausted that they could barely function," Shiro cut off Nadokai.

"Not like it matters..." I smirked. **_Forest of Death? Ah... I know_** **_that, you'll be looking for a specific scroll... I'd be glad to.. 'help'... _**the Gobi snickered. "What we're doing tommorrow, I'll pass it for us... it shouldn't be too long..." I started walking ahead of them, "you'll want to bring a rain coat. The forecast might wind up raining blood..."

Shiro shut his eyes, and nodded slightly, "Kekkei Genkai?" He questioned, though it didn't really sound like one. He was soon by my side again, "by the sounds of things, you know what we're doing, too," he smirked slightly. It was his most common expression used, since usually it was either dull or a smirk. The speed demon of Konoha showed about as much expression as a dead dog. He had been re-assigned to my team this year, after he was the only survivor of a mission. This was his second time taking the exams, so it was obvious he knew. He failed the second exam, when his team member 'accidentally' lost one of the scrolls.

Nadokai was completely lost. The idiot of Hidden Leaf was showing how stupid he was, "what?"

"Nothing," I sighed, and shook my head, "just don't train, or I'll rip out your vocal cords and feed them to the wolves..." I smirked some.

"Wolves? Oh, come on! Now you know how to summon wolves?" Nadokai shouted.

"Maybe... but remember, I'm not a medical ninja, or genius for that matter. For all I know, I could be just clawing out your throat and stomping on it a few times, both should kill you... since even if I did rip out your vocal cords, I'm not going to shove my hand down your throat, I'm going to take a kunai and try the bloody way. I'd rather blood on my hands than your spit," I turned my head slightly, before continuing to walk. My thoughts were shifting to Gaara now, even though I could hear Nadokai shouting something, still. Gaara had passed the written exam. That wasn't good on my part.

"Zaiaku?" Shiro's voice slipped into my thoughts. It wasn't really what I'd consider invading, since it wasn't as bothering as Nadokai's voice.

"Hm?" I blinked, and looked at him.

"Something wrong? Since you came back from your trip, you've been acting a little... weird..." Shiro mumbled. Figuring him, he didn't want it to be anything that would cause problems with the team.

"Nothing, I was just thinking..." I sighed, "if you don't mind, I'm going to head out for a walk. I'll be back by tommorrow... since I rarely sleep as it is, I don't think I'll be tired..." I was telling the truth. There was the small thing of me being an insomniac. It didn't seem to bother me, and I had no problems with it. I did sleep, but not too commonly, since the Gobi bothered me in my sleep, or tried to weaken my defense, so sleeping much wasn't smart if the bijuu actually kept quiet during the night. I had calculated that if I had fallen asleep every night, as a child, the gobi would have broken out twice a month. So I didn't sleep as much as I should have.

Shiro nodded some, "make sure you return in time." He really didn't care, it was just an act. Our team was supposed to work together, so he tried even if he hated it, which, if I might add, he did state how much he hated this team two weeks into being on the team. Nadokai couldn't last that long without stating how much he hated us, and how he was going to be the head of the genin... Until Shiro hit him in the shoulder with a kunai... then he kept a little more quiet about that topic.

I smiled slightly, before using the body flicker technique to dissapear in a swirl of darkness. Normally, I used leaves, but we weren't quite outside the building yet, and leaves aren't too commonly found indoors, by my knowledge.

I reappeared at the edge of a forest. It was right on the edge of Konoha. Not the Forest of Death, since it was fenced off, and I didn't want to be caught there and get my team disqualified by being there. I walked quietly through the forest, just to think. Mainly reflecting on when I had been captured by Suna. Hidden Sand had gone a little too far. I wonder if the Kazekage hadn't tortured me because I was the simplest to attempt getting information out of, who did know about the bijuu, or if he had figured out that I did have a...hn... 'bloodline limit' that controled the darkness, and that within seconds of attempting, a kunai made from the shadows would attempt to pierce his heart. I had already gotten one prepared in the corner, just in case. Shame I had never gotten to use it. I snapped out of my thoughts as I heard footsteps behind me...


	18. Trying to be alone, again

Well... with a bit of difficulty towards the ending, I managed to finish this part of the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto. The only things/characters I own would be Shiro, Nadokai, Yami-sensei, Zaiaku, Storm Country, and Hidden Shadow.

* * *

I turned slightly, to stare at the source of the sound. Who would have guessed who was standing behind me? Well... Gobi did, which took the surprise out of everything. Such a fun stealer.

"I followed you here," a boy mumbled lowly, "do you care?"

"You're the one who followed me, why should I?" I smiled slightly. It was Sasuke, luckily, if it would have been Nadokai I would have beat him to the point that he would have wished I had found out he had trained today, against my wishes. If it was Gaara, I wouldn't be here still. Shiro... eh... Shiro and Sasuke are a lot alike, so I might not care.

"You passed the exam too," Sasuke stated. That sounded idiotic, stating something I already knew.

"Yeah... you passed? I figured Naruto would have messed up..." It was true. I figured Naruto would have been caught and their team wouldn't pass to this point. Cheating without notice, or smarts, wasn't Naruto's feild. You only need to know him for five minutes to learn that. I did.

"Yes," Sasuke sighed. Possibly bothered that I hadn't noticed my friend had remained in the group, "something's been wrong. Since you went on that trip, you've been different... a little weird, for you..." he trailed off. Shiro had just mentioned that earlier. They were really too much alike. At least Nadokai was a little smarter than Naruto... Except his treatment towards people wasn't as good as Naruto's, which still needed work.

I sighed, thinking for a few moments for an excuse that I might remember, "uh... yeah... my grandma died..." I mumbled after a few moments, "she was sick, so I went to visit her, and she died while I was there..."

"You've never mentioned your grandma..." Sasuke looked at me oddly.

_Because I never met my grandma,_ I sighed, **_Yeah, since I had to kill her for trying to lock me into a tree. Curse your mother for being there. She should have died then too. Ah... at least I got my revenge..._** the Gobi grumbled lowly. "Yeah, it never seemed all that important to me at the time, until I received a letter from her..." I mumbled, still lying. It wasn't too uncommon for me to lie. I didn't have much choice.

What was I going to say? _"Oh yeah, ninja from sand kidnapped me and tried to kill me. I met the Kazekage then after insulting him, I ran away. Not before they found I had the bijuu, Gobi, inside me, of course. It doesn't want me to die, or it'll die too, or return to being sealed within a tree for several years! I had to show them that because I'm considered the Kage of a village called Hidden Shadow in the Storm Country, and I had to protect the village from a giant wave of sand that would destroy the entire village. My dad died since our country and this one happens to be allied, and the Kyuubi burst out, so he wanted to help. Instead, the Hokage sealed him in Naruto, who, did I forget to mention, kissed me the other night? Yeah, and now I'm sure that Kazekage knows I'm a demon, and wants to kidnap me again in order to get the gobi's power. But I shouldn't tell anyone any of this. Also, I should tell you that I never met my grandma because the demon in me ATE her before it was sealed by my mom. Before I forget, I should also mention that I killed my mom for attempting to kill me for a second time. It was an accident, surely you understand. If not, hold still so I can rip out your lungs and stomp on them a few times, I promise to return them to you after you're dead, okay?"_ It could just be me, but that really didn't sound like a good idea, or nice for that matter.

"...Okay..." Sasuke stared at me. I doubted he beleived me, "sorry about your grandma..." he added after a moment.

"Yeah... I just want to be alone for a little bit," I mumbled, rushing away from him. I couldn't get away from people, no matter where I went. It seemed like when I wanted to be alone, Naruto, Sasuke, or Shiro would pop out of the air and start jabbering on about something.

I skidded to a stop within moments, "the hell? Can't you people leave me alone?" I snapped at a boy who was standing in front of me, "you're further into Konoha this time, and it's more of my element..." I muttered. The shadows from the trees created the perfect area for me, so I was in the perfect location for a fight.

"I'm not planning on killing you right now..." the familiar harsh voice growled, the cold eyes of Gaara glaring at me.

"...Then why are you here?" I muttered lowly.

"I can be," he grumbled.

"I don't trust you," I snapped at him.

"I don't care," Gaara muttered, as sand began to surround his feet.

"I thought you weren't planning on killing me," I muttered, pointing down at the sand, without even glancing away from him. I really didn't trust him.

"Didn't plan to, things change," he stared dully at me. It was obvious I was annoying him again.

"So, the Kazekage want me back in Suna now that he knows about the gobi? Is that why you're here?" I crossed my arms. It was obvious I was beginning to get bored with this conversation. The moment the sand was going to touch me, I planned on attacking him.

"He doesn't know," Gaara still looked bored, as the sand was nearing me.

"Uh-hu... I don't beleive the son of the Kazekage would keep something like that a secret," I turned away, and started walking, "why is it that people aren't leaving me alo-" I paused, unable to move any further, I had stopped. I could feel something grabbing my ankle. I didn't even need to look down to know that it was the sand.

"...You kn-" Gaara started.

"Shut up, let go of me. Now," I spoke in a demanding voice, cutting him off. I couldn't care less on who I was talking to, but he had no right in stopping me from leaving.

"..." Gaara didn't speak, but the sand began to rise. It was simple to figure that Gaara wasn't really planning on listening to me. He probably didn't get commands much from anyone asides from the Kazekage. Not like I really cared. I didn't really have a reason to care. Not one at all.

"I said to let go," I snapped coldly, as the sand turned black, and fell to the ground before returning to it's natural color, "when I wish to be alone, don't people understand that it means NOT with people around me?" I muttered, jumping away. Maybe I should have stayed with Nadokai and Shiro. At least they don't bother me too much. Even being with Sasuke wasn't very good, since it was certain Sakura would soon follow, and the girl bothers me when she's with Sasuke. It's just annoying. I don't get jealous, no, it's just she acts weird, and so annoying that I can't stand it.

I sighed, slipping to a tree. It was large, and I used to always sit on one of the higher branches to think. Also, I could usually see if somebody was coming at that point, so they didn't really catch me by surprise, or bother me as much. It only took me a few moments to reach the tree branch I usually sat on, pressing chakra to the bottom of my feet and walking straight up the tree. Sadly, at that point, I forgot what I had left to really think about. So many interruptions caused me to lose my track of thought. I shook my head, and looked down off the tree branch, wondering if anyone else was around.

* * *

Author: Hehe... I love it when people guess what'll happen next! Then I can think of some way to make it different, while yet the same. It worked out... okay. People did guess right, it was supposed to be Gaara behind Zaiaku, but I thought I'd mess with things a little to make it less predictable. Gaara still showed, but it wasn't the planned scene. But... still... it worked okay, I think. If not, I made a mistake. It happens to everyone. As for the picture I'm drawing of team 12 (I think it was twelve), I've made a draft of them seperate. They aren't the best pictures, but I did it after midnight last night. I'm still working on them a little, so once again, it may be longer waits for the usual extremely quick updates. You know... now that I think about it... I have no idea when this story will end... x.x;;; 


	19. Day Before The Exam

(Optional to read above divider. Author talking randomly about a review that made her think about what would happen if the story never ended. Sorta... interesting, yeah, that's the word!)

Uh... nice... review there... the one about the story never ending... then all my readers would end up, like, dying... and they'd need to be buried with a computer! I'd need one too! Ooh... maybe the tombstones could secretly be laptops! Then it's like during the middle of the night and a bunch of zombies pop out of the ground and start using them, and scaring little kids by moving when they shouldn't. Yeah... my story makes people that die become the undead! That way they can still read this story in a thousand years... I'd run out of things to write after a while, though... possibly... maybe after the first millionth year... Sorry, I just had to comment on that, and conviniently, I had a ton of sugary stuff moments before reading that, and uploading this!

Disclaimer: Uh... you know what I own and don't! Characters from theanime/manga aren't mine, those who never have, and never will, show up in them are!

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I spotted Naruto in a clearing. Idiot. He was training! How foolish was that boy? I shook my head slightly, slipping down from the tree and walking towards where he was. The length wasn't worth using the body flicker technique. The boy came into view soon enough, and I stared at him stupidly, "Naruto, what are you doing?"

"Training! Believe it!" Naruto shouted, while he was doing... something... I really didn't know what... it sort of resembled a child doing morning arobics of some kind. What a strange person he was. Surely he had at least known not to train so hard the night before a test... well... it didn't really look all that hard for a shinobi to preform arobics. No, actually, it only looked a little scary. Luckily, he wasn't wearing some tight jumpsuit. That would have been worse. Much, _much _worse. The kind that somebody has nightmares about for several weeks.

"Uh... Naruto... you really weren't supposed to train. It was a trick to make you tired the next day..." I stared at him dully now, since he was such an idiot not to notice.

"Really?" Naruto stopped and stared at me with a vacant expression. Yeah, he had a lot in common with Nadokai...

"Yeah..." I shook my head. What an idiot. I swear, the only other person who didn't know was that stupid little boy on my team. How can one be that idiotic? Really? Were they born that way, or did they just one day decide to be that stupid?

"Aw," Naruto grumbled, "then I'm going to get ramen, want to come?" he smirked some. He was hinting at that I'd be buying. It's always a mistake to buy for Naruto since he tries to get as many bowls as he can.

"No, actually, I'm going to head home," I shook my head, noting a dissapointed look on his face.

"Alright..." Naruto whined, "see you tommorrow then," he mumbled, walking away, slouching slightly.

I sighed, "baka," I mumbled softly, using the body flicker jutsu to reach my house quickly. Thinking about it, I could have used that technique to make it to my house then back to Sakura's on her birthday before the sand siblings had shown, or even to get out of Suna unnoticed. It had completely slipped my mind until now. And I was calling Naruto an idiot? Well... yeah... he deserved that title in a way. Nevermind that part.

I opened the door, and walked in. In seconds, I was at my closet looking through my clothing, getting the usual outfit out. This time, it was to remember I had the exams, and required time to get everything ready. **_You really don't need to worry about this exam. I'll kill anyone that bothers you. Okay? Wait, don't answer. It's okay with me, I'm not asking somebody like you._** The gobi mumbled, though soon jumped onto a topic about socks. Frightful demon the gobi must be. Killing people with it's random subjects, including about socks. It didn't really kill them that way, unless it managed to actually bore them to death, or if being random killed people.

My eyes flickered to the window. It was already dark out, and I wasn't even close to tired. I should sleep tonight, but I wouldn't be able to if I tried. I could... bother Sasuke? Eh... no fun, I already had seen him earlier. Naruto? No, I really didn't want him to kiss me again. Just plainly, that can scare people. Mainly the person who actually was kissed. To put it simply, to be kissed by Naruto could scare a girl into attempting to hang themself. Sakura? No... she'd be chatting away about Sasuke. Even bothering with Nadokai would be less interesting than trying to strike a conversation with a wall. Shiro... well... the first time I visited his home was definitely the _last_ time I planned on going there. Something about that place just... creeped me out. Especially his little sister's dolls that lined every wall. They had odd eyes that followed people around the room. Sadly, his little sister copies the dolls, and has to act dark and cold. His mother rarely came out of her room, not even leaving to eat or cook, no cooking was Shiro's job, and his dad died years ago when the Kyuubi attacked.

I sighed softly, and opened the door, stepping outside. The air had cooled quickly, surprising me as it hit my face. I slipped away from the house, and walked silently around the dark streets of Konoha. It was nice out around here when it was dark. The crowds dispersed and it wasn't too hot to bear it.

My eyes wandered to each building. It had been a while since I had been within the village walking around after dark. A faint smile appeared on my face, since it was so quiet. I liked Konoha when it was like this. It was peaceful. Amazing that during the day there were thousands of people around, as well as shinobi searching for a fight.

Next thing I knew, dark brown eyes were staring up at me from a pale white face. The familiarity was obvious to me. A little girl in a black dress, her skin was as pale as a sheet, and she had light blonde hair, that could almost be mistaken for white. When I first came here, she had once had dark blonde hair, that could be mistaken for brown. She had obviously done something to it, possibly bleached it. Sun was out of the question, since her face was so pale that one could wonder if she'd ever been out into the sunlight before.

"Kyana?" I blinked some, and tilted my head. What the little girl was doing here was a good question. It was, surely, going on ten, and if I wasn't mistaken, she was only seven or eight.

"Hm?" the girl still stared up at me. Doll girl. That's what I often called her. She looked like the dolls that lined every room of her house.

"Why are you out here? You should be home... where's your brother?" I stared at her. It didn't seem like her brother would let her wander around at night alone. It seemed unlike him to do so.

"I wanted to take a walk. He's at home. He yelled at me, so I left for a while," she stated, before turning away and beginning to walk, but was jerked back. She looked over her shoulder, to see my hand gripping her arm.

"You're going home. Now," I mumbled, shaking my head, pulling her slightly, until she followed me in the opposite direction of where she had been heading. "He's had a tough day. Chuunin Exams. Maybe he was just a little stressed," I sighed, continuing to walk.

The girl, Kyana, was staring at the ground while we walked, "he won't let me enter the shinobi academy..."

I froze. She wanted to enter in the academy? "W-why?" I shook my head slightly, before continuing to walk.

"He entered. I wanna be a ninja too!" Kyana's voice rose. It wasn't very common for her to speak very loudly.

"You aren't ever outside unless it's to help your brother find things at the market, and you aren't really that skilled..." I murmered softly, "he might be worried about you."

"But that's not fair, he got to enroll..." she whined slightly.

"I'll tell you what, when we get to your house, you go to bed, and I'll talk to him about it... no promises you'll get what you want, though," I sighed. It wasn't that her brother was really difficult to communicate with, it's just he was a little stubborn once his mind was made up. She nodded, and followed me quickly.

With her pace quickened, we made it to her apartment a lot faster than we would have otherwise. I knocked on the door, and waited, hearing somebody trying to muffle a curse word, before footsteps led to the door.

The door opened, "what! O-oh, Zaiaku? What're you doing here?" at first, the voice was shouting, but calmed down seeing his teammate at the door,

"I think you lost something..." I pointed down, at Kyana, who seemed to shrink a few inches.

"Kyana? What're you doing out? I thought you were in your room!" the boy's voice quickened, "get in here," he growled, which she quickly ran inside, and to her room.

"Sorry about her. Thanks for bringing her back," the boy mumbled, "do you want anything?"

"I'd like to come in and talk... oh... and, uh... your stove's on fire..." I sighed, and pointed into the house.

"Sh-" he ran quickly to the stove, to take care of the fire.

I shook my head and walked inside, closing the door. The dolls. They were staring at me again! I shook off the horrible feeling, before sitting down on the couch, not glancing back, knowing my offer for help would be refused.

Soon, the boy was sitting by me, his hand was burnt, but other than that, and a scowl on his face, he seemed perfectly happy! A perfect time to talk to him! Sarcasm.

"What?" he leaned back against the arm of the couch, staring at me. He was obviously not in the best mood right now, and pushing buttons wasn't a smart idea. Of course, nobody ever said I did smart things when it came to communication. Actually, I liked to do the opposite.

"Well, first, you should really try meditating! It calms people down, and you really need to calm down by the scrunched up ugly face you have right now. Then, I'd suggest some ointment for your burnt hand, and maybe a new brain that tells you what to do in case your stove catches flame.

I received a growl and glare for those comments. He wasn't happy.

"Okay, Shiro, I actually wanted to talk about Kyana," I mumbled, noticing he seemed to tense.

"What about her?" he muttered.

"She wants to enter the ninja academy, and I think you should let her. If you don't, it's only going to make her hate you," I sighed softly, glancing towards Kyana's bedroom door to make sure it was shut.

"So? It's not something I want her to do," he snapped at me.

"Let her anyways. If she changes her mind, she'll stop going. It's nothing big. You're a ninja, you should let your sister be one too," I stared at him, "let her give it a shot."

"No," he muttered bluntly,

"No, no, no," I laughed softly, "I'm not asking you, Shiro, I'm _telling_ you. To put it simply, you are going to let her join, or you can be hanging from your wrist above a waterfall, after being kicked in the gut several times."

"And I'm telling you no," Shiro snapped.

"Hope you run as fast as the body flicker technique works," I sighed, "seriously, let her enter. You aren't letting her be who she wants, and that's not fair to her. She needs friends, and that's how she'd get them, and maybe a little sunlight would do her good."

"Fine. Whatever. She can enroll. One bad thing I hear, and I'm pulling her out of it, though," he mumbled.

"Thank you," I smiled, using the body flicker technique to dissapear from his room, and re-appear at my house. I read through a few jutsu scrolls I had around my house, waiting for the sun to rise.


	20. Morning of the Next Exam

Zzz... huh? Oh... yeah...meh... I've been slacking off a bit on this... I'll have a stupid talky thing at the end of the story so you can all read that after you've read this part. Sorry if it's shorter than usual, or worse than most parts, I've been having writer's block. Oh, yeah... and I did finish (partly) that picture I was drawing. Ever heard of Deviantart? Yeah... I'm aciddwolf there too... I'll havea link in my profile (near the bottom)leading to my deviantart pro, if you want to just click that and get to my stuff... it's a little dull since I draw but forget to upload them...

-Disclaimer: Do you think I own Naruto? No! I own team twelve. That's about it, team twelve, storm country, and Anei... I think that's it... yeah... should be...

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It didn't take long for that to happen. The sun, sadly, rose in the direction of my window, making my room light up like a flashlight. I never did enjoy the morning. Much too bright, and some people were extremely cheery. Too cheerful for mornings. Then there were other people. The grouchy ones. They glare at you in the morning, mumbling curse after curse, while making you think they plan on taking a glass and smashing it over your head if you dare to approach them. Unpleasant people. Nadokai's like that. Shiro's like a de-caffinated version of the happy morning people. Just... take out the happy part. Yeah... just the happy... maybe he could use the happy part though... not as creepy cheery as some, but he just seems kind of... yeah... there isn't much of a word to describe.

I sighed softly, changing my clothing, and slipping out the door, just as a woman appeared in my face, causing me to stumble back into the door, "shi-... sensei..."

"Hehe..." the woman giggled slightly, which seemed to always make Kakashi look at her oddly. Perhaps the reason why they had training sessions merged at times... either pity, or a crush. Hopefully the one with the crush got crushed. By a boulder. Hanging over a cliff, with rabid dogs below and several sharp rocks...

"Meh... just... go..." I mumbled slightly, as she dissapeared in a fluster of leaves, "ehm... o... kay... usually she says something more than 'hehe' before vanishing..." I shook my head slightly. I wasn't much of a morning person either, but not nearly as bad as Nadokai. He was one that, if he could, would carry a glass just to crack it upside the first person's head that speaks to him. I'm just the type that mumbles a little, gaining violent thoughts, and acts like their mind's numb until noon-ish.

I made sure that everything was finished, before leaving the house. Rather than body flickering to the gates, where my team always met, I decided to walk. Maybe the fresh air would wake me up enough not to consider killing everyone the moment the exam begun. I had attempted it once on a mission that took place too early in the morning. Apparently, according to Shiro and Nadokai, I had even attempted to kill them, and the person we were escorting back home. Not very smart.

I shut my eyes as I walked, managing to avoid the trees. The walk gave me some time to think. Oddly enough, the only thoughts I had were about a specific red-haired boy. He didn't really have a reason for having such cold, hateful eyes. Or... were they just truly sad, with hate merely as a disguise? I thought about it for a while, then shook my head. This was Gaara I was thinking about. Not a little kid. Gaara was, surely, just cruel.

"Zaiaku!" An annoying, snotty, voice shouted at me, almost as if the person calling me was mad.

I sighed softly, and opened my eyes, "Nadokai!" I mimicked his tone, but slightly dully, "what?" my tone shifted from annoying to annoyed.

"You're late!" he snapped at me. Like I said earlier, if he could, he'd carry around a glass to crack over people's heads in the morning. Instead, he made up for that by acting like this. Instead of like some morning people that eventually act nice, though, he acts mean all day, just being a little nicer later.

"If I get here a few minutes after you, it doesn't mean I'm late. If I show up at nine at night, while you've been standing there for several hours, I'm late. This is not late," I stated, looking towards Shiro, who shot a glare at me. Usually, he lacked the glaring throughout the day unless he was mad. Apparently, he must be.

"Alright, get going to the forest. If you see Kakashi-kun, tell him that I'm going to the river, and to meet me there. If not, I'll find him later," Yami smiled some, and began to walk away.

"Oh, Kakashi_-kun_," Nadokai snickered, mimicking Yami-sensei. She always called him that. And Nadokai always teased her about it. Well, behind her back. After she barely missed his neck with a kunai, he stopped saying things like that to her face. Especially after finding out that she purposely missed, though it had been rather obvious.

"Shut up," I pushed him slightly, and started walking towards the forest of death. It wasn't too far, so we shouldn't get there too long from now.

Nadokai growled at me slightly, like a dog, before running after me, Shiro following a short distance behind.

"Hey, Zai-chan?" Nadokai mumbled, walking at my side, taking a few glances back at Shiro, who didn't seem very enthusiastic.

"First, I never gave you permission to call me Zai, and second, it was you that whined about everyone using honorifics, so why are you using them now?" I looked at him for a second, before continuing to focus on where I was walking.

"So you only let people call you Zaiaku?" Nadokai mumbled lowly, probably thinking about whatever he had been about to ask. If he could really think...

"My dad's the only one who can call me Zai, and he's dead. So, right..." I glared at him, "that wasn't what you were going to ask, though."

"Oh! Yeah... what's with Shiro?" Nadokai took another glance back at Shiro, before looking at me. The boy thought I knew? Why would I? I'm not a certified genius. Of course, neither was he. He definitely wasn't, though. When we graduated from the academy, he questioned what cats had to do with chakra. Apparently, he had heard Naruto tell some little kid it was called 'catra' and he actually believed it.

I shrugged slightly, "how am I supposed to know? Ask him, no. Wait, I want to..." I paused for a second, before looking at Shiro, "hey! Shiro! What bit you in the ass this morning? Nadokai wants to know!" I smirked some at Nadokai.

"Shut it," Shiro grumbled lowly.

"Thanks a lot," Nadokai glared at me. What had he expected from me? He's the one who called me a devil in the academy. He learned to stop when he found out that he couldn't see out of one of his eyes for the remainder of that week.

"You're welcome!" I smiled, "it's for you being a pain for well over a year now. I told you I'd make your life a living hell if you kept bugging me..." It was true. I had. We were little kids in the academy, and he was a bit of a bully. He was picked on by like... two people, but he got a few kids to hang out with him at that time, not friends though. They picked on people, and after school he chose me as a target. He did stop after a while, but I had to force him to. I don't think he knew I could actually fight...

Nadokai growled and started walking ahead, as we came to the fence blocking the forest. Within moments, the crowd became visible. The genin who had passed the written exam. I smirked, slipping to Nadokai's side, my foot 'accidentally' moving in front of his, causing him to fall, and me to snicker. Shiro merely grumbled a few curse words, and stepped over Nadokai, walking a few feet in front of us. The people who looked at us smirked, and they began whispering about our team. I heard a few. We'd be their targets. Perfect.

"All right everyone, listen up!" the woman from the day before appeared in front of everyone, "you'll each be getting a scroll, you need to steal a different scroll, of either heaven or earth, and go to the tower located within the forest!" she shouted, "if any member of your team dies, you are disqualified. And don't even think about opening the scroll!"

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Author's notes: Okay, some of you may or may not notice that I do change my profile a little, from time-to-time. If you check, you'll see... somewhere near the bottom, that I put up dates that I know I won't be updating on.

Yesterday, I blew my whole day watching the entire Elfen Lied anime series online. I'm going to... eventually... start up an E.L. fanfic, acting as if the whole anime/manga hadn't happened yet... and blah...

I'm going to be working on a specific part that will show up in this story with the entire chapter being all about bits of Zaiaku's past and that stuff... maybe of Shiro or Nadokai's too... I dunno...

And I plan on working on another new story too... it's going to be weird... that's all I know right now.

Oh! And here's something important! If you want to read my old stories that I quit doing, read 'em now, because I might be taking them down soon!


	21. Carried Away In Blood

Oookay... some anon. baka flamed about how Zaiaku spoke with Gaara in Chap two? Blah. It's only bothersome. I really don't care about that, since it's like Zaiaku to insult people, therefore talking to a deadly person such as Gaara receives that reaction. Fwee! On A HAPPY NOTE! I managed to toss up a second part of the story quickly! On a lesser happy note, I now realize that this is a very...hn... messy part.

Disclaimers: You know... Naruto belongs to whoever it was that made it. Team Twelve, and unnamed characters in this are created by me, thus mine. Fear my random wrath. Rawr...

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The woman sighed softly, as Shiro received one of the scrolls.

"Zaiaku! Why'd you do that!" Nadokai shouted at me, as we soon found ourselves within the forest.

"I want to kill something," I grumbled lowly, my eyes glaring as they flickered around.

"W-what?" Nadokai looked as if he was about to fall over at my comment. I think it was because I rarely actually said I was going to kill somebody. I never actually did kill people in front of my team members. I've broken limbs, as well as ripped limbs off of people, but never went to the extent of killing them.

"Are you alright?" Shiro mumbled, looking towards me, as I twitched slightly to the question. It was that second that I realized I was messing up. The gobi's sadistic ways rubbed off a little after fourteen years of living with it. It's love for killing was something I kept suppressed. It could keep that, but the idea that it was allowed to kill somebody might have been a little too much.

"Y-yeah! Can't you take a joke?" I smiled nervously.

Shiro's glares had turned to a worried and confused look, and shook his head some, "I heard a few teams talking. They'll be looking for us. Maybe one of them will have the right scroll..." he shrugged, "apparently something about how we showed up outside the forest led them to think that we were a bad team."

"Surely the fact that I tripped Nadokai, and you just stepped over him while throwing a lovely glare at us had nothing to do with it..." I mumbled sarcastically. _**I'm not having fun. Get me a shinobi to rip apart... I heard I could kill... since technically 'I' can't kill them being trapped in you, you have to kill them for me! **'trust me... I want to. I can't... you know that... not in front of my team...' **Wimp...** 'shut up...'_ I sighed softly, having a slight talk with the gobi.

_**Hey... do you have any socks? **'I'm wearing socks...'** Can I have them?** 'You can't wear socks...'** But I still want them!** 'You can't even hold socks!'** So... that's a no... right?** 'take a wild guess...' **but I want socks. You never give me anything. Fourteen years I've been here and I don't even get a 'Happy Birthday' or 'Merry Christmas', you know? So now I just ask for socks, even one, and I don't get to even touch a sock. Come on, are you a sock hater? You just can't stand socks, can you? I mean...**_ At that second, I tuned out of listening to the Gobi. Rarely did it come onto the point of questioning if it could own socks. Actually... I think that was the first time... the last time it had wanted underpants... I never understood why a five tailed canine would want socks or underpants. They wouldn't fit. Or at least... I don't think. I don't really think I want to find out, though.

"So... we wait, walk around, or go find somebody?" I looked at them carefully, as if to make sure they weren't my enemy.

"May as well see if anyone's nearby..." Shiro mumbled.

"I'll go ahead!" Nadokai growled, and rushed off. He knew if he got in trouble, we'd find him in time.

"Zaiaku... stay back here for a minute..." Shiro spoke lowly, as to prevent Nadokai from overhearing.

"Hn?" I blinked, and turned slightly, to stare at Shiro.

"There's something different about you...and you really did just state you wanted to kill a person..." he stared at my eyes, causing me to shift my gaze. I hated it when most people stared into my eyes. It feels like, if somebody stared into my eyes, they could almost see the demon in me. Not the sock-lover. The killing, blood-loving, cruel gobi. The worst part is that being one with the demon, you actually begin to like the sight of pain and blood.

"Nothing's changed, Shiro. We're all the same people that took that picture in the forest with Yami-sensei. We're all just a little more mature now. There's nothing different," I sighed softly, and shook my head.

"Imoutosan..." Shiro spoke softly, "you know as well as I do that there's something different... and it isn't good to keep things locked up... you can tell me... your eyes have even changed... they're colder..."

"I'm not related to you. Don't call me that. You're younger sister is Kyana, not me. So drop it," I growled, turning away from him, and following where Nadokai had walked away to.

_"Oniichan!" Zaiaku shouted. It was three years ago from now. Her knee was cut open, and bleeding, as well as bite marks scattering her arms and legs. Two dogs lay only feet away from her, one with a kunai in it's back, the other appearing to be lacking it's hind limbs, and possibly bled to death._

_"Imoutosan... are you okay?" a younger version of Shiro was leaning over her, as he placed a kunai away, showing that he had been the one to kill the second dog. "Ugh... you're covered in blood... and what happened to that other dog? It's missing it's legs!"_

_"Nothing..." she whimpered slightly._

_"Here, let me get you home... I'll go get some medicine to take care of the cuts later after you're home..." he picked her up carefully, "see? You're safe with me!"_

_"Don't drop me!" she clung tightly to him, to prevent him from 'accidentally' letting go._

_Shiro laughed slightly, "don't worry. You can trust me with anything. So trust me on this, I don't plan on dropping you. You have my word..." he shook his head slightly, and began to walk towards forest, which wasn't too far from Zaiaku's house, and prevented many people from seeing the injured girl.../_

That was then. This is now. Things have changed since they had become friends. I couldn't trust him with everything. I couldn't trust anyone. I stopped looking up to him as though he was my brother a while back. He had always been there if I really needed him. We had been friends from the day he had saved my puppy. Well... wolf puppy... in a way.

"Let me go!" Nadokai's voice suddenly shouted. Baka. Got himself in trouble already.

I sighed, darting to where he was. He was being pinned to a tree by his neck from another boy. Kicking wasn't helping him.

Shiro had obviously heard as well, since within moments, he was at my side, and watching.

"Since you heard me so well before, it's obvious this team has intents of killing Nadokai, so...?" I paused.

"Go ahead," Shiro sighed.

"Fun!" I looked almost childish, as a shadow wrapped around the boy pinning Nadokai to the tree, and pulled him away from my team mate.

"What the...?" the boy looked around wildly, trying to find the source of the unnoticed jutsu.

"Sorry, was I not allowed to show up?" I smiled playfully, now sitting on a tree branch that hung out slightly over the group, "he is my team-mate, so I should be..."

"You actually like your team-mate?" a young woman questioned. Obviously, she had seen me trip Nadokai earlier.

"I wouldn't go to the extent of calling him my friend, but, yeah, sure. Why not?" a smirk slowly began to form on my face, as I heard a faint snap, that the other's hadn't, just before a blood-curtling yowl. The shadows were tightening around the boy as I was making small-talk with his team. The snap I had heard was the start of his rib cage breaking into pieces.

"What's happening?" the other boy shouted, rushing to the trapped one, "let him go!"

"Aww... but don't you want to play too?" the smirk became cruel, and my eyes flickered with the bijuu's insanity. I was fully sane, but I just wanted to watch someone that I didn't like die. He threatened my cellmate, so I can kill him.

"Zaiaku! Stop it!" Nadokai burst out, after coughing for his breath a few times.

"Shut up. Let me finish this up. I told you I've wanted to do this from the start," I smirked, as the cracking became louder, with the boy's screams. My eyes widened, "go snappy..." I mumbled childishly, as the boy began coughing blood. "Yeah... that's right... suffer..." I mumbled, suddenly hearing the young woman, as she tugged on the second boy's arm, in attempt to get him to run away, since it was useless to ask for their other team member back. "Now now, where are you going?" I turned my head slightly, as the shadows wrapped up the two other's legs, before my gaze returned to the nearly unconcious boy. "I want to try something..." I mumbled, the shadows wrapping around the boy fully. I was going to attempt something Gaara had tried on me. It appeared to tighten, and there was one last yelp, before blood flew as the shadow around the boy dissapeared. Blood hit the tree I was on, but missed me, along with my team.

"Now... for you two..." I mumbled, "first... let's see... a ninja can't be a ninja if they aren't capable of moving their legs..." I smirked, as the shadows tightened around their legs, waiting until loud snaps were heard of their bones breaking in several locations. Screaming was heard too. A lot of screaming. Sickening screaming, that made Nadokai cover his ears, and stare downwards, as if he were going to collapse. Shiro... Shiro was silent. He was watching almost as if in horror, but without the terrified look on his face.

I slipped down from the tree, and took a few steps towards them, "now let's see here... what next? Ah... your spines? It works..." I mumbled, clenching my fist, as several cracks were heard, and Nadokai screaming something loudly from behind me, covering my victims screams, as I heard the soft thud of him falling to his knees. He couldn't handle watching or hearing this any longer.

"Zaiaku, enough!" Shiro shouted. He was close to falling down too. You could see it with how he was standing. Trembling. Terrified. Shiro just couldn't handle how I had reacted, and he had given me permission to kill them. He probably thought it would be quick and merciful.

I turned my head slightly, to face him, my eyes were tinting red now, "shut up, fool. _They deserve this. Shinobi should know that death is highly likely for them, so why stop_?" my voice shifted slightly towards the gobi's, and I smirked some, turning away, to watch the two. The young woman had stopped moving, aside from the faint movement of her breathing, which seemed shallow. **_That's right... slowly kill them..._**

Suddenly, I was jerked back slightly, and spun around. I found myself staring at Shiro, his hands clenching my shoulders so tightly that it hurt, "stop it... just..stop it... just let them go... please..." the boy's voice was unusually weak and soft. Almost child-like. It sounded defenseless and pitiful. He wanted me to stop. I could hear the fear in his voice.

"..." I remained silent, as two loud snaps were heard, and two thuds of lifeless bodies hitting the ground. I hadn't meant to go that far. "Sorry..." I murmered softly, feeling his grip loosen. I pulled away from him, and walked to Nadokai, holding out my hand, "...it's covered with blood..." I mumbled softly, though there wasn't really blood on my hands or any other part of my body, "but... I want to help you up..."


	22. Conversation of Team Twelve

It's one of those chapters where you can't think of what to say, so you type up anything that pops into your head. Hopefully you enjoy it. And for some of you, if you like Naru x Hina, then read my oneshot (Something like: Last words from a girl in Love). I've received some pretty good reviews on it, so just saying...

Disclaimer: Naruto Doesn't Belong To Me. Team Twelve, Anei, and Storm Country are mine. The rest are not.

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Nadokai slowly looked up at me, before at my hand. He still looked scared. His hands were limp at his sides, not moving an inch. "Y-you killed them... you just came in and killed them... you crushed their bones and made them suffer... h-how could you do that?"

"Well it's simple really. You just need the right jutsus, but..." I started, my tone a little dull sounding, as if I hadn't really done anything.

"I meant how could you bring yourself to actually watch them suffer while you killed them! It's not right! You shouldn't be able to just go in there and slowly kill them while you break their bones! It's just wrong! You had no..." Nadokai began shouting at me. Until a soft thwack was heard, and his face was turned slightly away from me. My hand was raised slightly away from his face, and a red mark would surely follow to where it had hit his face.

"Shut up! Being a shinobi is about death! It's all about being tools and risking death in a fight! Your life was at stake then, and most other ways would have wound up killing you. They planned on suffocating you! I gave them what they deserved. So snap out of your little fantasy world. This is reality, where it's kill or be killed. Now do you want help up, or not?" I snapped at him. I may have sounded a bit brutal, but it was the truth. I moved back my hand a little, and held it out as I had moments before, waiting to see if he would take it.

Nadokai opened his mouth, but all that came out was a shaky breath, as his head turned slightly to face me. He kept silent for several seconds, making no movement to get up.

I sighed softly, and looked towards Shiro, who was now holding the other team's scroll, a grim look on his face.

"We're in luck... their scroll was the one we needed..." he mumbled quietly, and looked down at one of the body's, and shook his head some, before looking at Nadokai. He still hadn't budged, so it could mean he hated or feared me. I think Shiro thought the same, since he had an upset look on his face.

"..." I sighed lightly, looking away from Nadokai, and pulled my hand back. Or at least I would have pulled it back, if not for when I was doing so, I felt a hand grab it. My eyes flickered to my hand, to see Nadokai staring at me, a faint smile traced my lips as I pulled him onto his feet.

"So now what?" Nadokai looked at Shiro. He obviously hadn't been paying attention during the explaination. He released my hand and walked towards Shiro.

I crossed my arms, "we have to get to the tower now. I wonder if anyone else is there..."

"I doubt it. Unless they can instantly kill people..." Shiro looked at me oddly.

I shrugged some and began walking. It was an eery silence to where I could only hear our footsteps. Not even a bird was heard. _**Something's not right... see? It's the socks. They're mad at you now for not liking them, or giving me any. Now if you would have just... '**Shut it before I make you.' **Okaaay... but it's the socks, I tell you. They're watching you... no... stalking you! Ah! Wait! They'll attack me too if they attack you! That's bad! I'm a fellow sock lover! Don't attack me sockies! I'll be good! **'God... Something's mentally wrong with you...'_ The gobi was getting more odd by the second. Stalker socks? Feh.

I yawned dully, looking around, noticing repeated glances from Nadokai, "what're you looking at?"

He looked away from me for a moment, "s-so... if you killed them... then before... that look... you wer going to..." he was mumbling.

"Kill you? Oh yes, actually, I was. You're lucky Shiro came along when he did, or you'd have seen your friends decapitated, then I'd have taken out your guts to show you them... it's what you get for messing with people that I actually consider a friend. Or, in your case, a teammate..." I shrugged.

"But then you wouldn't have..." Nadokai started, then paused, "...nevermind..." he realized that when I could have killed him was back in the academy. Before we knew our teams.

"Precisely..." I smirked slightly.

_"Leave me alone, Nadokai, you baka bully..." Zaiaku snapped at him. Only three days until the test to see if they became genin, and Nadokai was still picking on her._

_"I never said I was going to bother you... what I was going to say..." a younger Nadokai pulled out a small, almost kitten sized, white wolf pup, holding it by the scruff of it's neck, "is that this little mutt is my new target... I think I'll beat her to death... isn't it suiting? To be owned by somebody as weird as you, I think I'd be putting the little thing out of it's misery!"_

_"Let her go! She hasn't done anything to you!" Zaiaku spat. It wasn't a question. She was telling him to._

_"Or what?" He smirked, as one of his friends got him a thick, yet small, tree branch, and held it over the puppy. Knowing Nadokai, he was just going to knock out the pup, but it was still cruel. Then, it came down, and loud yelps were heard._

_"Knock it off... or I'll..." Zaiaku started, as a kunai appeared from the shadows, hovering in front of her, then another three._

_"Or you'll what? Make your little shadow puppets and make us laugh to death?" Nadokai smirked. He was mistaking the Nariko clan for the Nara Clan._

_Her eyes began to turn red, "**or I'll rip you to shreds...**" her voice became threatening, as the Gobi was speaking for her. These were when the Gobi had mainly normal thoughts. Ever since she had met Gaara, the Gobi had slowly been acting odder._

_"Oh yeah, I'll believe it when I see it!" Nadokai smirked, planning on hitting the canine again._

_"Stop it, Baka. Do I have to tell Hokage-sama on you?" Shiro sighed, appearing kneeled down by the canine, whom he picked up._

_Nadokai stared at Shiro with a glare._

_"Well, do I?" Shiro glanced back at Nadokai, a blank expression on his face._

_"Come on guys, let's get out of here..." Nadokai muttered, as two boys followed after him._

_"I think this belongs to you..." Shiro handed Zaiaku the pup, "I figure it'll be fine after a little while..."_

_"Th-thanks..." Zaiaku murmered softly, her eyes returning to normal, as well as her voice.../_

"Yeah... you deserved to die..." I shot a glare at Nadokai, "and that is the reason why you will never come to my house, or near Sapphira, because if you dare to hurt her again, I'll gut you and use your organs as wall decorations."

Nadokai let out a gulping sound, and looked away quickly. I don't think he liked that idea. I wonder why.

"We're here," Shiro mumbled. We had been closer to the tower than what I thought.

"I wonder if anyone else is here..." I blinked some, as we stepped inside.


	23. Time in the Tower

Author: Sorry it took me so long to write another chapter! I'm not dead, if that's what some of you think! I started getting reviews like... a week ago or something, which I thank you people for, since you reminded me that people read this thing, and that I hadn't been working on it in like... ever. I kind of forgot about it for a while, after I got a severe writers block. Now I'm back!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or Naruto's world. I own Zaiaku, Nadokai, Shiro, (Team 12) and that's about it for this chapter (that I'm aware of) soooo... yeah... onto the story!

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I stepped into the building, following Shiro, with Nadokai close behind me. I wasn't sure if he was afraid of me, or thought I'd protect him if somebody tried to attack us. I knew that the gobi would rather eat him and steal his socks, but I wasn't sure what I'd do. Normally, I would let the gobi eat the socks... however, I was the holder of the gobi, thus making me eat socks, which I would never do, so I'd probably sit off to the side and watch whatever happened.

"I don't think anyone else is here yet..." Nadokai mumbled after a long silence.

"Who knows? Maybe they're hiding and waiting to _eat_ you!" I spun around, just to make him jump back. It made me hold back a smile, which would have surely turned into a light laughter if I had.

"Don't do that!" Nadokai whined, thowing a glare at me.

"Would you two stop it?" Shiro sighed softly, breaking up my fun, and he started looking around.

"Aw, fine," I sighed softly, and glanced up, noticing the glint of a camera hidden on a wall. It was so tempting to wave at it! I didn't know quite why but I wanted to just wave at the camera, though it would make me look like a complete idiot. Acting like an idiot is the only thing that prevented me from waving. However, apparently Nadokai didn't care about how idiotic it was, as the second he saw what I was staring at, he stuck his tongue out at it, and scrunched up his face.

"I don't think anyone has gotten here yet..." Nadokai spoke up, after a few moments of silence.

"Oh really, was the hint that nobody _is_ here?" I looked over at him, stupidly, and shook my head, "anyways... what should we do for the time we're here alone? I mean, I doubt many cells will show up here in two seconds..."

"We could train!" Nadokai shouted quickly, as a suggestion.

"I could break your bones," I shook my head, while glancing at my nails, "and why would we want to waste energy on fighting each other, anyways? We're all on the same team, so we shouldn't fight one another." At my first sentence, I could almost smell the fear running off of him.

"...Why don't we just rest?" Shiro sighed some, seeming to try to get us off the topic of injuries.

I nodded, and Nadokai quickly walked to a large room in the tower. Apparently, it was where we were going to rest for the time being. Nadokai and Shiro sat down a few feet from each other, while I sat by the archway, ready to walk out any second. Actually, that was only half of the reason. If a team walked in with intentions of attacking Shiro and Nadokai, I wouldn't be noticed, and could catch them off guard... though I doubted that it would really matter if I wrapped them up in darkness.

_**So... let's negotiate the whole 'sock' thing, okay? **'No' **Why?** 'You can't even have socks!' **See? Once a sock hater, always a sock hater!** 'Why can't you be normal?' **I've been trapped in you for fourteen years, girl. After going through your life, a lot of people who can't move, or communicate with anything asides from the troubled person really can't be normal. Now what about those socks? **'Are you calling me mental?' **No, I'm just saying that you've got a few problems in your past that could lead to insanity...** 'Oh, and this is coming from the old demon that talks about socks all day!' **Who're you calling old? And I like socks, thank you very much! They're much warmer than those idiotic sandals you shinobi wear! **'Why did I start listening to you again?' **Because you love talking to the old, very hungry, wolf demon who misses seeing the open world? Oh! And you miss me enough to give me socks, and let me out to ea--er... play with Konoha...?** 'Eh...no...nice try... I think I'll go back to communicating with the, at least partially, normal people here...' **You're just jealous because socks like me!**_

I sighed some, questioning why I had started listening to the gobi long enough to have that odd conversation with it. I didn't respond to the oddness of the demon any after his last sentence. I really didn't have a responce for that. Socks don't have minds, so they can't prefer a person over another. Sometimes I wondered who was smarter; Nadokai, or the Gobi.

Shiro looked over at me for a few minutes, "is something wrong, Zaiaku?" he questioned, probably having noticed that I had been staring blankly at the ground for around five minutes.

"No, just thinking," I answered almost instantly. Really, though, I wouldn't have responded so quickly naturally. The only reason why I had, was because seconds before the scent of fresh blood had floated in on the air. It was so thick that I could taste it on my tongue. **_Somebody's here... and they just had a fresh kill..._** the gobi pointed out almost the instant I had swallowed the taste, that was still lingering through the air.

"...Shiro... wake up Nadokai..." I mumbled, noticing the brown haired boy soundly asleep on the floor.

"Why?" Shiro questioned, as he started shaking the drowzy boy awake. Nadokai slowly rose after a few moments of being shaken, but looked as though he was going to fall back asleep any second.

"What are you two doing in my room?" Nadokai questioned, looking around sleepily, "wait... uhn... nevermind..." it seemed that he had realized where he was now, and wasn't bothering with questioning us being in the same room as him.

"Company..." I murmered, "...and I think we lost a few of our competetors in the exams..." I added, to hint that there may have been deaths.

It became silent for a few minutes, until I finally began hearing three sets of footsteps. They were slowly nearing the door. As they came closer, Nadokai and Shiro quickly could hear them, and the murmers of their conversation. Every footstep made Nadokai look a little more nervous. Of course, I didn't really blame him, since shinobi with blood covering their scents would worry anyone. We had only been in the tower for an hour or less, and somebody was already here? Surely something was wrong with that. It couldn't be an examiner, since they had no reason to smell like fresh blood, so it had to be a genin cell. It made sense with three different sets of footsteps. But, I still didn't understand why they had gotten here so quickly. Then, I saw Nadokai's eyes widen a little. It's when I realized something. The footsteps had stopped.

"Well, look what we've found," a male's voice broke the silence.


	24. Undesired Reunion

Aciddwolf: Gomen Nasai! Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to forget about this again! I've been busy with my family, pets, friends, and the ever-so-annoying "relationship troubles" your strange writer has managed to stumble into. I'll try to update a little more. As soon as I figure out something for my next story. Naruto Kiddos... (I'm not naming it that)... but I dunno yet which kids perspective it'll be from. Mainly it's between Inuzuka and Uzumaki... Bleck... too tough! runs off, then returns remembering she hadn't finished oh, and... half of the reason why I was saying sorry at the top is because I remembered today, that I've had this part done since the day that I put up the last one... hehe... oops...

---Disclaimer: Team 12 MINE. Anyone else Not MINE! sobs (I'm hyper... shut up...)

* * *

"Huh... two genin?" a female's voice rose into the air, "where's the third one?" she questioned, not even entering the room. "What should we do with them? Leave them, or kill them?"

"Uh-uh..." Nadokai started sounding like he was trying to say something, but nothing more would come out.

"Can we have some fun?" the male's voice questioned, but it didn't seem like he would be asking the female basically the same question as she just had. Perhaps he was asking his third cell mate.

There was no responce. Nobody answered it. But I figured out the answer, as the footsteps began to proceed into the room. A black outfit covered the boy who had entered. Distinct markings were on his face in purple. His hat could remind a person almost of a cat.

I bit my lower lip a little, as he started to turn to face me. It was pretty easy to see a person out of the corner of one's eye when they're right beside them.

"Zaiaku..." the boy muttered out. It was Kankuro. He was planning on killing my cell mates, but instead of focusing on them, he had noticed me.

"Huh?" the female's voice, now possitively belonging to Temari, questioned what Kankuro had just said. Her footsteps entered the room quickly, to see why Kankuro was just standing there, but didn't seem as shocked as him when she saw me sitting on the floor, staring at them.

I merely glared at them, and rose to my feet. Standing there for a second, I considered injuring them. It would be a way of revenge. Then again, it could terrify Nadokai again. After a moment, I walked past the two, and looked through the door, to see Gaara standing there, with an emotionless expression on his face.

Gaara's eyes returned the glare that was held in my eyes. He had a scowl on his face, and didn't even have a scratch on him. All he did was take a step forwards, as a slight squeaking sound could be heard, as if a cork was being pulled out of a bottle.

"Don't you dare," I growled out, in a dangerously low tone. I knew that the only cork in the room was the one sealing the gourd on Gaara's back. The one full of sand that could kill my teammates in only a matter of seconds. And with the gobi still chatting about socks, and things in similarity to socks, I doubted that it would even realize I was in trouble.

_**Oh! Hey! It's your friend! Hi Gaara! How've you been? Ask him! Oh! And ask him what's with the tacky love tattoo on his head! Oooh... do you think it's really nail polish? Poke it! Poke it, I tell you! Find out if he draws on himself! ...Oh! And tell him he needs to like... do a gothic or punk style outfitting to match his personality... heh... yeah.. it'd look great!** _the gobi seemed a little more hyper than it had a few moments ago. Almost like a child who had just eaten an entire bag of just plain sugar. I really should have learned to completely ignore him when I was seven. It's always a weird thing about him. Shouting about random things. I think he had actually gone insane from being locked inside of a human for several years.

Gaara's eyes narrowed into a deadly look, that seemed like a silent threat. He crossed his arms, stiffly, and took a step towards me. We were only a couple of feet apart as it was. It seemed like he was probably doing that so if he tried to strike me, he wouldn't miss.

I stood still for a second, then lifted up my hand, holding it a couple of inches away from his face, with my middle finger touching my thumb. Then... I tried to flick him between the eyes. I failed to, however, as a small barrier of sand pulled up to prevent my fingers to so much as tap him.

"Idiot! Are you trying to get killed?" Temari snapped at me, but I didn't even turn my head to look at her.

"Maybe," I mumbled.

"K-killed?" Nadokai questioned, almost shakily. The scent of fear was in the air. It seemed that the only two who weren't afraid at the second would be Gaara and myself.

"Gaara'll kill anything that does something like that," Kankuro muttered, to try a quick explaination to my cellmate on what appeared to be my deathwish. "She should know that, of all people," he added.

"What's that mean?" I heard Shiro's voice rise into the air for a short moment.

"Nothing, it doesn't mean anything," I responded, though the question wasn't directed at me.

Gaara's eyes practically glowed with fury, as the sound of the cork popping out of the gourd, and a soft tap as it hit the ground seemed to echo through the room.

"We've gone over this one, Gaara, you obviously can't kill me," I sighed, "can't we all just get along for one day without you trying to break somebody's bones?" I shook my head.

"...She's an idiot..." Kankuro muttered out, as I heard his foot hit the ground, "and you still owe me a puppet!"

"Zip it," I growled out at him, then looked at Gaara, "now, what do you say?" I held out my hand, "no fighting?"

Gaara looked at my hand for only a second, then walked past me, to stare at Shiro and Nadokai. The cork was still on the ground, so I wasn't going to trust him for a second.

I turned around, staring at the gourd, then picked up the cork.

"What do you mean, zip it? You owe me a puppet! Get me a new one, now!" Kankuro complained. Oddly, he wasn't acting as terrified as he was moments before. Perhaps he forgot Gaara's mood problem?

I sighed softly, walking past Kankuro, and popping the cork half way into the boy's mouth, before taking my place beside Shiro. "Get up," I muttered, now eyeing Gaara's face. It wasn't a good idea to stay behind him, because I wouldn't be able to ensure my cellmates' safety. It only took one a few seconds to recognize how somebody like Gaara would act.


	25. To Be Thought And Spoken

Aciddwolf: Whoot! Two up in one night! Hooray! Anyways, I'm tired now, and I'm not really sure if my head was fully here to do this part, but... I'm hoping it was, since I'm putting it up before I forget about it until a month passes. So here it is! Also... I've been thinking... I do need to end this eventually... (perhaps add a sequel if I get free time and miss the charries... since they've gained their own minds, and a little tiny part in my heart...) I'm thinking somewhere in the thirties or fourties it'll end... dunno yet...

Disclaimer: Sand Siblings/Naruto Chars: Not mine. Nadokai, Shiro, Zaiaku: Mine.

* * *

Shiro merely nodded a little at what I had commanded, and rose to his feet, forcing Nadokai up by one of his arms, as the boy stubbornly tried to plop back down onto the hard floor.

"I don't see why you have to be an ass all of the time, Gaara," I shrugged slightly, a smirk twitching at my lips slightly. Slowly, my eyes shifted quickly to Shiro and Nadokai, "I'd suggest to exit the room. I'll be right behind you both..." I mumbled, "we can find someplace else to sit while we wait for the rest of the teams to show up," I growled out the final part of my sentence lightly.

"Come on, Nadokai," Shiro hurried out of the room with Nadokai quickly following behind. Well... Nadokai was somewhat following, the other part was that he was partially being dragged. It was rather apparent that the boy wanted to go back to sleep as quickly as possible. He probably didn't sleep too well.

**_There's nothing, and I'm serious, nothing that I like more than the scent of terror mixed with blood... hn... it reminds me of the good old days... back when I didn't have a little girl carrying me around like a stuffed doll! When I could freely chew on innocent's arms whenever I wished it... then that idiot attacked me, and I got stuck in a tree. Damn your mom for having a daughter. Why couldn't you be a boy? If I would have known you wouldn't let me have fun, I would have terrorized you since you were born like my... friend... seemed to have his host. It worked well for him, and look at Kyuubi. If I would have never spoken to you, you'd never even listen to me at all, and be an idiot like that Naruto boy is..._** the Gobi let out a growling sound as he chuckled lightly. _"You bother me... and I don't listen to you, unless I already planned it. Also, don't talk about Naruto that way... it's not all his fault on how he acts, occasionally..." **Standing up for somebody you care so deeply about? Bleck...** "He's always had my back. So I should be able to defend him from the voice in my head... oh god... that makes me feel like I'm mental by thinking that..."_

Gaara looked at me as if there were a thousand daggers piercing into my skin one-by-one. He wasn't reacting. Perhaps this meant that he wasn't going to stop us from leaving.

I sighed lightly, and turned away, hearing a soft thud as the cork popped out of Kankuro's mouth, and onto the ground, shortly followed by a soft squeeking sound. So... he let us go unharmed in any way? Asides from Nadokai seeming a bit terrified, along with a strong scent of fear from Temari, Kankuro, and Shiro mixing together, nothing seemed out of place.

"You've got to stop that," Temari hissed at me as I made my way out of the room, and to my two teammates, one of them being asleep on the floor already.

"What was that about?" the only of the two that was standing, Shiro, questioned me, his expression was nothing to play about. He had known something was wrong in that situation the second they had stepped into the room, hadn't he? The look he was giving me told me, rather firmly, that he knew that I was well aware of the three that were in the room, and had some encounter with them in the past. The problem was, in my mind, that he wanted to know, and I wasn't certain if I wanted to tell.

"I'll tell you... when we're in a different room..." I sighed lightly, and grabbed Nadokai by the wrist, "I'll take him from here. If he can't stay awake enough to stand, then I can drag him across the cold, hard floor."

Shiro nodded some, as we located a smaller room within the tower, and sat down. Nadokai had yet to wake up, and the majority of his lower body stuck out the door, since neither of us really wanted to pull him in any further. He was too heavy.

"God... he needs to lose a few pounds... are you sure that he's training instead of going to all-you-can-eat buffets, someplace, all day?" I poked Nadokai's cheek, then his shoulder and side, until I had managed to roll him over onto his side, not facing me. I didn't want him to face me in case he drooled. I wasn't possitive of it, but it just seemed like, with him being part Inuzuka, that he'd have some dog-like quality, and drooling everywhere happened to be a quality that would fit him perfectly. Ah... I was a little mean about that... especially since he didn't like any reference to his Inuzuka blood. He was only half, and his dog had died around the middle of our academy time. Just realizing it, that could have always been the reason why he acted like he did. He was the misfit half-dog. But still, I didn't want to risk being drooled on. He could keep it between him and Mister Floor, since if he drooled on the floor, it couldn't complain, or be sickened by it, unlike I would react.

"Zaiaku. You still haven't told me about those three..." Shiro pointed out, rather bluntly, "...you plan to, correct?"

"Hai..." I sighed lightly. Actually, I was hoping he wouldn't mention anything, and that I wouldn't have to speak about them. "Gaara is an old friend of mine, from when I lived in Suna... but, I guess when I moved away, something happened and he changed. The two with him were his siblings. Temari and Kankuro..." I spoke rather vaguely about the three.

"And you two kept in touch enough for you to know this?" Shiro asked, a serious look on his face still, "...he doesn't seem like the type of person that would write letters to people when he isn't busy..."

"Ah... no... I... 'visited' Suna recently... and happened to stay at his home for a while..." I tried to keep things somewhat vague, but knew that he'd continue the questions regardless.

"...You haven't been out of Konoha for over a year... except for when you returned a wreck and--" he was about to continue, when he saw me look at the ground, "...you were with them then?" I nodded a little at his question, and looked over at Nadokai. "They're the cause of you returning in your poor state..." it wasn't a question. He was merely aknowedging it.

Nadokai shifted a little, and sat up, a tired look in his eyes still, "h...huh?" he asked rather sleepily, looking around to figure out where he was. Shortly after, he rubbed his back, probably in a bit of pain from being dragged about.

"Hn... When will this be over?" I let out a soft yawn, leaning against the wall, in a sitting position. I hadn't been sleeping quite well enough, myself.

"Zaiaku... if you want to rest, I'll keep an eye out here... Nadokai and you both look tired..." Shiro spoke rather calmly, but had a conscerned hint in his voice.

"If anything happens, wake me up that instant... especially if the sand siblings are involved..." I growled lightly at him, to make sure the point got through. Apparently it had, as he quickly nodded his head and stated that he'd never consider anything otherwise.

By the point that I had shut my eyes, Nadokai had started snoring, proving to not have been awake as much as I had figured, and my mind was drifting off.

Within my mind, I could hear Gobi making a conversation with me. On occasions, he'd try to talk with me while I was asleep. It was always an interesting thing, since he seemed lesserly savage and insane, most of the time, when he was communicating with me then, of course, it was always in a form of a dream, but it could always be told by him that it was indeed him speaking with me. Like usual, it was a feild with just one large tree, where a white wolf sat, with five long tails.

**_Do you really trust that boy enough to tell him that?_**

_"He's on my team. I shouldn't hide things from him."_

_**Shinobi are supposed to be secretive, young kunoichi, why don't you understand this?**_

_"I do understand, but I don't want to listen to you. If it were seriously important in my mind, then I wouldn't have told him." _

_**Be careful of what you say, and good luck with young Gaara. It seems that he must have some plans in mind, if he hasn't tried to kill you yet... Even when you were being held prisoner, I don't think that was his full power he was using... just enough for the average human to pass into unconsiousness...**_

_"Understood... oh, and Gobi? Do me a favor... stop asking about socks, and shouting random things for me to tell others..."_

_**That's no fun! I'm not listening to that request!**_ The gobi's tone sounded like it was pouting, as the animal rose to all fours, and dissapeared as the scene in my mind faded away.

"Zaiaku... wake up..." a male's voice slowly entered my thoughts, as I felt something push my shoulder lightly.


	26. Who Not to Deal With

Aciddeh's Notes: Okay... yeah... I did it again. I forgot about this site completely. I do owe a thanks to everyone who's reviewed, and people who've been asking me to come back and finish my stories! I especially have to thank IchigoTheGardianAngel12, for the email... if I wouldn't have gotten it, it wouldn't have brought me to not only remember that this place is here, but that people read my stories here! Eheh... bad memory, and my life gets even more busy as I get older. For instants, right now, I'm working on driver's training, segment one in the mornings, and it kinda mutilates my thoughts for the remainder of the day. For instants, I have been having constant difficulties with thoughts when roleplaying on my favorite Naruto RP site... and I haven't been able to work on any stories, so this one could be a little off. It is two-twenty five am, here, also, so I have no clue how this was even close to... done? Yeah... let's go on with the story, before I go off onto more random stuff...

Disclaimer: I'm getting tired of this. Naruto people Kishimoto (I think... it was that, right? Well, they aren't mine, even though I'd love to have cutey Akamaru as my own... especially after the timeskip! coughs yeah... continuing...) Shiro, Nadokai, and Zaiaku are MINE. Aciddwolfs. Nobody elses! IF anyone ever uses them in any story, throw stuff at them, unless I gave them permission! Erm... side-tracked... Here's the story!

* * *

"Hn?" my eyes fluttered open, as I looked at my teammate, but it wasn't who I had figured. "N-Nadokai?" I murmered, with a confused expression painting my face. Looking around the room, I noticed that it seemed to lack something. No... not something. My eyes shifted to stare at the Inuzuka carefully, "where's Shiro?" my voice was blunt, and I had instantly snapped out of my tired state.

"H-He... The red-haired guy showed up, and Shiro began yelling at him!" everything began to rush out of the boys mouth, almost faster than I could comprehend. I could even hear Gobi groaning about the 'child' talking. "I woke up just in time to see Shiro walking down the stairs! That guy, and those two other people were with him! They looked pissed!"

My eyes widened a little, and I hopped up, to stand in the small room. Without Shiro in the room, it seemed so much larger than I had originally thought it was. We couldn't even get Nadokai inside then. "And... you _let_ him go?" I could hear my own voice seem to become flat, as my eyes shifted from being wide, to narrowing, and glaring at the misfit dog-boy. "Baka!" I snapped, as my hand fell on his head, with a soft 'thump' sound emitting into the air. "How long ago was this?"

"Ah!" Nadokai's eyes looked up at me, to glare like daggers. It wasn't nearly as intimidating as Gaara. "About fifteen minutes ago? I don't know! It's not like I have a watch!" he snapped, dusting off his clothes as he rose to his feet, "it's not like it's going to kill him to go outside, anyways," he added.

"You have _no_ idea," I grumbled, instantly making my way down the stairs. A warm, sticky scent made it's way through the air, that tried to cause my body to freeze, but I forced my stiff limbs to continue. _**Hehe... I smell something good! It rhymes with wood, and is red!**_ the Gobi chimed. _Shut up,_ I hissed inwardly, as I realized how long it was taking to go down these stairs. _Gobi. Choose one or two._ I insisted to the demon. It was my way of choosing, _**Humph... this is all you ever ask--**__ Answer!__**Fine. Two.**_

I sighed a little, shifting my weight, as my hands found their way to the railing. Stopping for only a second, I hopped up, and felt my weight shift over the bar, and my legs situate themselves to a safe position, aimed to the ground, as air hit them. It took only a few moments, before I felt a jerk, and my body shifted, as a hard floor replaced the air that had been under my feet. "Mmm..." I sighed again, looking at the floor, then rising my body into it's usual stance. My eyes shut for only a second, as I took in the familiar scent, then they shot open once again, only seconds before my feet began moving, shooting me out the tower's enterance. _**Left...**_ the gobi instructed dully. Nodding a little, I rushed left, along the side of the building, to come to the sight that I had figured I would see... well, actually, I had figured it would be far worse.

Shiro was pressed against the side of the tower, his left eye was shut, and he was covered in scratches, some looking quite deep compared to others. The genin held a kunai in one hand, and looked like he was about to try to continue the fight, but saw Gaara's demonic eyes shift, and followed them, to see what had sparked interest, in the otherwise unenthused male. Me. "Z-Zaiaku..." he muttered, "g-get out of here!" he quickly shouted at me, as if afraid I would get hurt.

"Useless," Gaara growled, as the sand rose from his gourd, and shot at Shiro.

I saw Shiro flinch, and his eyes kept tightly shut, as I turned to face Gaara. I heard Shiro's whimpers subside, and pictured him opening his eyes, realizing a shadow was over him. However, this time, instead of one of my abilitie's shadows, it was my own, as I stood as a barrier between the two people. I could hear him repeat my name quietly, as his voice shook. I wasn't possitive if it was from fear, or from how hurt he was that he had to strain his vocal chords, but regardless, I didn't care. The sand hadn't even touched me, and I didn't have a shield protecting myself, either. It just seemed frozen in time, as Gaara's expression remained the same, cold look as ever.

"Why'd you stop?" I questioned cooly, not even looking slightly afraid that the attack would have hit me. "You afraid of something?"

"No," he instantly answered, "I don't feel like wasting my energy on you right now," the maroon haired boy muttered, turning away, and heading back into the building, with his siblings, just in time for Nadokai to turn the corner.

"What happened?" the loud boy ran over to me and Shiro, with a strange expression on his face, as if he were hyper, confused, and surprised at the same time.

"Nothing. Go back in," I glared at the boy, with a demanding tone holding my voice, that not even he dared to defy. The young shinobi made his way back to the door, and inside, before I turned, to stare at Shiro. "Baka, what were you thinking?" I growled at him.

"They hurt you," he muttered, falling back into a sitting position on the ground. "That Gaara guy had been about to come into the room, so I told him to leave you alone... he insisted to make something of it," the dark haired genin explained, wincing a little. The look in his eyes told me that he was expecting a warm responce, maybe a hug, a little assistance getting up in a minute, and me to help him take care of his wounds.

"Don't play with demons," I spat, tossing a small container of ointment into his lap, knowing he would think I was referring to how Gaara reacted rather than what was inside of him, "you don't know him like I do. **Don't** be that stupid again, or I might not save you," my body shifted to face towards the direction of the door, "I can take care of myself, and my own issues in my own way. Let me do things on my own. By the looks of things, I've got everything under better control than you," I growled, before walking back to the door, and going inside, where Nadokai was.


End file.
